Investors enjoy tight vacancy rate

02 Sep 2011 - smart property investment

Investors looking to make a return on their purchase should have no problem finding a tenant, new research has revealed.

According to the latest data from SQM Research, residential vacancies remain very tight, sitting at 1.9 per cent.

Canberra has the tightest vacancy rate of all the capital cities, recording a rate of just 0.7 per cent – or 333 properties.

Melbourne once again retained the lead as the capital city with the greatest amount of rental vacancies, recording a vacancy rate of 2.8 per cent – a total of 10,238 vacancies.

With all capital cities remaining under 3 per cent for yet another month and a national vacancy rate of 1.9 per cent, it is evident that the tightness in the Australian rental market is yet to be alleviated.

SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said the tight rental market could be largely attributed to a general oversupply of stock for sale and an undersupply of properties for rent.

“It perfectly explains why we have falling house prices while rents are rising at a faster rate than inflation,” Mr Christopher said