2019 December Vacancy Rate Report

The Queensland rental market continues to be tight with vacancy rates remaining steady moving only slightly by 0.1 per cent from 2.2 per cent in the September quarter to 2.1 per cent for the December quarter.

Interstate migration statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for the year ended June 2019 show that Queensland had the highest net interstate migration gain year on year of 22,800 people and the highest net overseas migration gain of 1,500 people.

For the purpose of the following analysis, rental demand has been measured as the total number of residential bonds held by the Residential Tenancy Authority (RTA). According to figures from the RTA, 603,157 residential rental bonds were held in December 2019, up 1.5 per cent from the September quarter of 594,327.

Rental markets continue to remain strong across Queensland. Out of 52 markets reported, 34 are tight, 6 have healthy vacancy rates whilst 12 have been reported as weak. That means over 65 per cent of rental markets in Queensland are tight with reported vacancies of 2.5 per cent or less.

Whitsundays, Caloundra Coast and Livingstone all reported the tightest vacancy rates of just 0.4 per cent for the quarter.

In regional Queensland, Rockhampton rental vacancies decreased by 2.0 per cent from last quarter whilst on the coast the Sunshine Coast experienced a decrease of 1.8 per cent for the quarter. Gold Coast vacancy rates also tightened are at 1.8 per cent.

Queensland’s capital city rental market weakened slightly this quarter by 0.6 per cent with vacancies at 2.3 per cent – a healthy level and one which the market has experienced on average for the past 2 ½ years. The weakening in the capital city market was driven by the Brisbane inner market (less than 5.0 km) which had an increase in vacancies of 2.1%. Redland City, Moreton Bay and Logan City rental markets remain tight.