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
- The pace of regional housing rental increases has seen increases across most states, with Queensland’s Surfers Parade seeing the largest increase at 10%, whilst South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula and South West were not far behind at 9.4%. In New South Wales, the rental market continued its upward trend, seeing a 4.5% increase, whilst Victoria identified moderate growth, witnessing a 2% increase. Western Australia saw no growth in capital city rents, however regional areas identified a moderate increase of 5.8%.
Unit market
- The unit rental market continues to surge, with QLD’s Surfers Paradise recording the highest increase at 8.3%. Bundaberg and Gold Coast North in QLD also saw increases of 5.7% and 5.0%, respectively, whilst WA’s East Pilbara and NSW’s Dapto – Port Kemba make up the top five, with increases of 5.5% and 4.7%.
Vacancy rates
- Vacancy rates have seen positive decreases, with VIC’s Surf Coast – Bellarine Region seeing the largest decrease at 2.14%, holding a vacancy rate of 1.8%. In some regional areas, there have been steady decreases, indicating that the regional rental markets are equally as challenging for renters. The vacancy rate in SA’s Outback-North and East has dropped from 1.7% to 1.58%, but the standout is the heavily populated Noosa region in QLD, dropping from 2.0% to 1.6%.