Sydney rental vacancies remain steady, while Newcastle levels have significantly decreased, according to Tim McKibbin, CEO of REINSW.
Vacancy rates were down in Sydney during the month of January, decreasing 0.1 per cent to 3.3 per cent, REINSW figures show.
The largest drop was in Sydney’s Inner Ring where rates decreased from 3.4 per cent to 3.1 per cent.
The Outer Ring also dropped slightly by 0.1 per cent on December’s figures.
At a glance:
The Middle Ring however had an increase in vacancies rising from 3.4 per cent last month to 3.6 per cent.
Outside Sydney, vacancy rates were on the decrease where Newcastle saw the largest drop in vacancies from 2.5 per cent down to 2 per cent.
Wollongong had a small increase of 0.3 per cent to 2.9 per cent which goes someway to correcting the last drop in December.
“Rates are down this month particularly in Sydney’s Inner Ring," said Tim McKibbin, REINSW CEO.
"Metropolitan Sydney is still popular with tenants and in January, agents have seen a marked interest in areas such as North Sydney with more tenant interest reported than in the previous three months.”
Sydney data
Total vacancies across Sydney are now sitting at 3.3 per cent, a decrease of 0.1 per cent since December.
Rates have been sitting above 3 per cent for several months in a row so it looks like this trend is here to stay for now as large amounts of new units continue to enter the market.
Vacancy rates in Inner and Outer Sydney dropped by 0.3 per cent an 0.1 per cent respectively whereas vacancy rates in Middle Sydney increased from 3.4 per cent to 3.6 per cent.
Double Bay, Bondi Junction, Auburn and Granville have returned some of the highest vacancy rates, all in excess of 8 per cent.
The most popular suburbs are Bondi, Pyrmont, North Ryde, Banksia and Cromer where vacancies are under 1.4 per cent.
The Hunter
Total vacancies in the Hunter region decreased substantially both in Newcastle and other areas, dropping from 1.9 per cent to 1.2 per cent.
Newcastle decreased 0.5 per cent to sit at 2 per cent.
Decreases were larger in the other areas dropping from 1.7 per cent to 0.9 per cent.
The Illawarra
Overall there was no change in rates in the Illawarra region with vacancies sitting at 2.7 per cent for the second month running.
Wollongong rates rose by 0.3 per cent to sit at 2.9 per cent, bucking the trend in the Greater Sydney area.
The other regions
Overall other regions reported an increase in vacancy rates in January with the exception of Central West, Central Coast, Far West and South Coast, which reported decreases.
Coffs Harbour saw the highest increase in rates jumping 0.8 percentage points from 2.5 per cent in December up to 3.3 per cent.
Albury also saw a rise in vacancies up from 1.1 per cent to 1.8 per cent.
Vacancy rates in NSW over the past year. Source: REINSW
Residential vacancy rate percentage
The REINSW Residential Vacancy Rate Report is based on the proportion of unlet residential dwellings to the total rent roll of REINSW member agents on the 15th of each month.
Carried out monthly, the research – a survey of REINSW member agents conducted by Survey Matters – collects the total properties on agency rent rolls, the number of properties that were vacant on the 15th of the month, and the postcode in which a majority of agents’ rental properties are located. The suburb-level rates reported by agents are weighted based on ABS Census 2016 Dwelling Characteristics.
The January report is based on survey responses covering 112,491 residential rental properties.
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