Pressure on regional renters finally easing
By Jo KennettACCORDING TO the latest data from Proptrack, it looks like conditions are finally beginning to ease for cash-strapped regional renters and though rents are still high in the Tweed Shire and Coolangatta, there are good signs for tenants here with vacancy rates up.
Some places like Bogangar have seen a drop from a median of $950 a week at the end of May to $820 at the end of July.
Banora Point dropped from $850 to $800 at the end of July.
Proptrack economist Angus Moore said the improvement comes after three tough years for regional renters.
“Rental markets in regional areas have been extremely tight since mid-2020, when largerthan-typical population flows from capital cities to regional areas soaked up much of the available rental stock,” Mr Moore wrote in Proptrack’s report.
“Since then, regional rental markets across the country have had few available rentals.
“Rental vacancy rates - which measure the number of available
rentals as a share of the total number of rental properties - have been sitting at, or even below, 1 per cent regionally.
“That’s substantially lower than pre-pandemic.”
Mr Moore said the consequence of this limited availability of rentals has been rapid increases in rents, which many renters have had to endure in the Tweed Shire.
Rents in regional NSW rents rose from a median of $390 to $495 per week while rents in regional Queensland, rents grew from $390 to $520 per week, a whopping $130 increase.
Times have been really tough in the Tweed Shire for renters, with skyrocketing rents and lack of rentals sending many tenants packing for Queensland, where they have been much cheaper.
The pandemic explosion in city migration to regions like the Tweed Shire saw many renters receiving notice to move out as new owners opted for the sea or tree change or pushed for higher returns.
The Weekly has spoken to scores of renters since the pandemic real estate boom who
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moved out of the shire, mostly to coastal areas further north in Queensland where rents were much cheaper. Some have even managed to purchase homes in those areas. Others have managed to hang onto their homes even though their rents jump substantially, some by hundreds of dollars.
It’s been a terrible, stressful time for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to get into the property market, particularly younger residents, but Mr Moore says there are signs that conditions are starting to improve.
“Rental vacancy rates have been drifting up across regional areas over the past 12 to 18 months,” he said in his report.
Regional NSW has seen vacancy rates move from less than 1 per cent a year and a half ago to 1.7 per cent today.
“While these improvements will be a welcome reprieve for regional renters, conditions are still tough,” Mr Moore said.
“Availability remains limited in regional markets...but conditions have improved, and are continuing to do so, which is a
good sign for regional renters.
“That improvement in availability is also showing up in rents. “Rents regionally have been flat, or even declined a little, over the past six months in most regional areas.
“Again, these are not large changes, particularly relative to the substantial run up in rents when compared to three years ago.”
That has also been evident in the Tweed Shire.
Locals have pointed out a number of homes to The Weekly that they say have sat empty for months, with few people coming to inspect these properties. One agent The Weekly spoke to said many tenants have reached their price ceiling and can’t go
any further.
Even cheaper ones like a two bedder for $550 across the road from the beach saw only a handful of interested applicants. Despite the reports of wage rises, they don’t seem as evident here, with several tenants telling The Weekly they are paying substantially more in rent on the same wage they have been on in some cases for years.
Mr Moore said that with vacancy rates beginning to ease, and population flows from capital cities returning to more typical levels after the pandemic, we are unlikely to see the same pressure on rents that we did over the past three years, which will come as welcome news for regional renters.
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