WILLIAMS MEDIA spoke with Lucinda Owen of Place Ascot about the current competitiveness in the Brisbane rental market.
Place Ascot’s Business Development Manager Lucinda Owen is known for her hard work and commitment to her clients. Her background in property management provides her with a breadth of knowledge about the entire leasing process and she has stepped into her Business Development role excited to continue her career supported by the Place brand.
WILLIAMS MEDIA spoke to Lucinda Owen about the Brisbane rental market.
How would you describe the Brisbane rental market at the moment?
Fast Paced. Over the past 6 years I have personally never seen a market so positive, it is a landlords market.
It's interesting to be witness how the times are changing, everyone wants a response then and there. The demand is at an all time high and if you can keep up with the demand you're a proactive agent who listens to both their landlords and prospective tenants and understands [each of] their needs, this job currently entails working around the clock 6-7 days a week.
Image: 48 Charlton Street, Ascot. Leased off market for $2,500 per week. Source: Place Ascot
What do you think is driving the increase in demand?
There's a few things driving the increase in demand; the main one being current homeowners selling their family homes as the sale market is also at an all time high, but needing to rent as they cannot find a new home to purchase in time before their current home settles or feel the prices are too high and are waiting for the market to drop before purchasing a new home.
This is having a run-on efect with storage companies having no vacancies as people are putting their bulky furniture in storage and renting apartments or townhouses while they look for a new home to purchase.
I have also noticed over the past 4 months prospective local tenants are competing with prospective tenants from interstate wanting to make the move to the sunshine state. Interstate tenants, especially from Greater Sydney pay astronomical prices for tiny apartments; after paying $700 odd dollars for a shoe box apartment in Bondi beach they are happy to almost match the price for something a bit more modern and spacious here.
Image: 46 Charlton Street, Ascot. "This was listed with another agent at $1,650 per week. Place Ascot re-launched with new photos at $1,800 per week. Received an offer of $2,000 per week from a local family within 3 hours of the listing." Source: Place Ascot
What advice do you give landlords?
75% of my new business clients are quite educated with the current market conditions from listening to the media and doing their own market research prior. My work ethic is to be honest with my clients throughout the entire procress.
I advise clients that if they wish to list a property higher than the appraised price we should only test the waters for 3 days as the first 7 days a property is listed is crucial to acheiving a great rental return and if the price is initially listed too high it affects the days on market, therefore a loss of money.
Image: 5 Comus Crescent, Ascot was listed for sale with another agent, then on the rental market with a different agent. Place Ascot reached out and re-launched the property and achieved $1,175 per week. Source: Place Ascot
What advice do you give prospective tenants?
Pick up the phone and don't just enquire online, call the agent directly and start to build a rapport with them. Also, ask the leasing agent if they have any properties becoming available prior to being listed and advestised in the market. If there is a certain location you would prefer to reside, I highly recommend calling all local BDM/Leasing agents to see if they can assist.
We also recommend prospective tenants to reach out to Sarah from the Rent Fairy. Sarah acts like a buyers agent, but for rentals. Sarah is an ex- property manager and understands the tenants needs and will go out and search for suitable properties for the tenant Australia wide.
What impact has the increase in people working from home had on the rental market?
The only major impact since the pandemic began is couples and families are looking for either extra bedrooms or outdoor space.
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