Newsletter Articles

Rents rocketing through the roof

The recent surge in rental prices has seen the cost of renting in Queensland jump an incredible 20 percent within the past year. With hotspots like Bowen rising 40 percent, affordable renting is a thing of the past.

State Housing Minister, Robert Schwarten, recently commented that as a result of the sky rocketing rental prices, families were going to do it tough. Schwarten was also disturbed by the latest statistics released by the Residential Tenancy Authority (RTA), which revealed that there was a major hike in the price of three bedroom houses. Residents in Blackwater, Bowen and Rockhampton are paying at least 30 percent more than the previous year. Perhaps even more shocking, some residents in Mackay are now paying in excess of $400 a week for a standard three bedroom home.

The RTA also found that there were more than 30,000 applications waiting for rental accommodation, and matters are only set to get worse with the vacancy rate below 1.5 percent. In areas of Brisbane and the Gold and Sunshine coasts rental warfare has surfaced with reports of rent auctions being held, with properties going to the highest bidder.

National Shelter chairman Adrian Pisarski, observed that the rental crisis is hitting Queensland the hardest. With such a great influx in the population, buildings can’t go up quick enough to keep up with the pace.

There is a clear lack of supply of suitably priced rental accommodation. As with any commodity, when demand outweighs supply the end result is invariably price increases.

The current rental market is good for investors who can expect higher rental incomes and very little risk of vacancies. On flip side, it is an increasingly tough market for people who are renting.