The IPN Regional Rent Index analyses the short-term fluctuations in house rental markets across regions in NSW, VIC, QLD, SA, WA, and TAS, excluding capital city areas.
Published monthly, the data is derived from advertised rentals for houses and is calculated over a rolling 12-month sample period. Metrics include median rents for both houses and units, and vacancy rates, all aggregated by the ABS standard known as Statistical Area 3 (SA3).
Regional Rent Index Report Highlights
Housing market
- WA was the only state to see increases in regional house medians over the last three months, with an uplift of +5.5%. All other states held steady MoM at 0%. WA’s West Pilbara had the largest increase of +7.5%, with WA’s Mid West and QLD’s Burnett both at +7.1%.
Unit market
- For the second month, WA identified the largest increase in regional rental medians over the past quarter at +4.2%. VIC increased by +2.8%, followed by SA at +1.8%. NSW & TAS saw no change over the past quarter, sitting at 0%. The Grampians in VIC had the largest change at +6.7%, followed by QLD’s Gladstone at +6.1% and VIC’s Bendigo rounding out the top three at +5.6%.
Vacancy rates
- All states again saw increases in vacancy rates over the past three months, with VIC seeing the largest change at +1.8%, up from +1.6% last month. NSW saw an increase of +1.6%, WA at +1.4% and both SA and TAS at +1.3%. QLD rounded out the states at +1.1%. NSW saw the largest three decreases in regional vacancy rates, with Broken Hill and Far West at -2.3%, Lower Murray at -1.6% and Young – Yass at -1.0%.