Hobart rents on the rise

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2019 themercury.com.au SUBSCRIPTIONS 1300 696 397 ONLY renters in Sydney and Canberra are paying more than people in Hobart, a report has revealed.

Rents in the southernmost capital city continue to climb with the median rent now $464 per week, according to the latest data from CoreLogic.

In its June quarter Rental Review, CoreLogic had Hobart and Melbourne neck and neck with only $1 per week separating the cities. But in the September quarter Hobart has outpaced Melbourne by $7.

That gap could be set to widen further with Hobart’s annual percentage of growth currently 5 per cent higher than Melbourne’s. CoreLogic’s head of research Tim Lawless said Hobart had “quickly become one of the more expensive rental markets”.

Real Estate Institute of Tasmania past president Tony Collidge said he cannot think of a time when Hobart rents have been this high. “We can’t cope,” he said. “The demand that is being placed on this alreadystretched resource has resulted in our rents increasing so dramatically.”

Mr Collidge said the increase in Hobart property prices has had an impact on the rents that are charged. He said landlords have to borrow more to buy a property and have to charge more as well. “People are fighting to secure a property to rent,” he said. “We have such a small rental base and Hobart is now sitting at about 0.5 per cent vacancy.”

Shelter Tas chief executive Pattie Chugg is concerned about the impact of escalating private rents for people on low incomes.

Ms Chugg said the report showed an intensifying rental hardship for many of those one in four Tasmanians who rent.

“While our rents are higher than Melbourne, we also have the lowest average incomes in Australia,” she said.

Ms Chugg said an increasing numbers of households are seeking support as they are experience rental stress and increasing risk of homelessness.

“The era of cheap rent in Tasmania is long past,” she said.

“This report underscores the need to build more community and public housing.”

CoreLogic’s data showed Hobart’s annual rental growth figure was 6.2 per cent with the next largest figures recorded in Perth (2.5 per cent), Adelaide (1.9 per cent), Brisbane (1.8 per cent) and Melbourne (1.2 per cent). Sydney and Darwin’s annual figures regressed by 2.2 per cent and 2.7 per cent.

On the investor front, the report revealed Hobart rentals were generating a 5.2 per cent yield, which was one of the strongest in Australia.