Darwin rental pool deepest in the country – realestate.com.au

News Corp Australia Network

Darwin is the Australian capital city with the highest percentage of rental homes available for lease. Picture: Che Chorley

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Darwin maintains its position as the capital city with the highest rental vacancy rate in the country despite a drop in February, new data has shown.

The latest PropTrack Market Insight Report revealed Darwin’s vacancy rate fell 0.26 percentage points in February to sit at 2.58 per cent.

This was down 0.21 percentage points for the February quarter but up 0.19 percentage points annually.

PropTrack senior economist and report author Paul Ryan said despite the annual rise in vacancies, Darwin’s rental market was much tighter than pre-pandemic.

“The vacancy rate has declined 46 per cent compared to March 2020,” he said.

In regional NT, the vacancy rate rose 0.26 percentage points month-on-month to sit at 2.2 per cent.

“Even so, regional NT’s vacancy rate was down 0.39 percentage points compared to the same time last year,” Mr Ryan said.

PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan. Picture: Supplied

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The report showed the Australian combined capital city vacancy rate was sitting at 1.04 per cent in February.

“Rental markets are proving extremely challenging for renters, with very limited availability across most of the country,” Mr Ryan said.

“February saw rental vacancy rates decline further, down 0.12 percentage points to hit a fresh (national) low of just 1.07 per cent.

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“Most capitals and regional areas were facing a limited or more limited availability than they were compared to a year ago.

“Sydney and Melbourne have seen notably larger declines than other capitals, with vacancy rates in both cities falling 0.3 percentage points compared to February 2023.

“Rental markets in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth remain extremely challenging, with vacancy rates in all three cities below 1 per cent.”

More homes, like this one at 78 Thorne St, Muirhead, are becoming available to rent as the Darwin vacancy rate rises. Picture: realestate.com.au

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The tightest capital city market was Perth, at 0.75 per cent, followed by Adelaide (0.83 per cent), Brisbane (0.95 per cent), Melbourne (1.07 per cent), Sydney (1.11 per cent) and Hobart (1.2 per cent).

Regional Australia as a whole recorded a vacancy rate 0f 1.14 per cent, with regional NT having the most homes available for lease compared to the regional markets of other states and Territories.

The market was tightest in regional South Australia (0.96 per cent), followed by regional Queensland (1.03 per cent), regional Victoria (1.11 per cent), regional Tasmania (1.18 per cent), regional News South Wales (1.22 per cent) and regional Western Australia (1.47 per cent).

Mr Ryan said with rental market conditions extremely tight, competition for rentals was likely to remain tough across Australia.

“In the near-term, that is likely to continue to put pressure on rents and further strain rental affordability, which is already at its worst level in at least 17 years,” he said.