The Weekend Post - Real Estate
COMPETITION IS TOUGH IN HUNT TO FIND A HOME
With vacancy rates at historic lows agents are struggling to find enough stock to meet the growing demand, which in turn is also pushing up rents.
THE rush for a home is on in Cairns, whether buying, building or even renting.
The Far Northern city has always had a traditionally low rental vacancy — usually about 2 per cent, but that number is a distant memory for agents, inundated with tenancy applications.
Recently REIQ Far North zone chair Tom Quaid reported speaking to agents who had rental vacancy rates below 0.5 per cent, and that percentage doesn’t become much brighter, for tenants, when speaking to RE/MAX property manager Sharyon Muphy.
“Our rental vacancy is about 1 per cent across the city,” Ms Murphy said.
“Just like sales, there isn’t enough stock for tenants, we’re getting up to 12 applications on some properties, renting them out within a day and some even sight unseen.
“For October we had 878 inquiries on rental properties in Cairns and 260 inspections.
“While in September we had 763 inquiries and 138 inspections. So it’s increasing.
“We’ve had instances where we’ve looked at the traditional rent for a property, and with one it should have been in the $400s, but we it rented out in the $500s. That’s just the demand at the moment.”
While the CBD and central suburbs remain in demand, Ms Murphy (above) said family homes in newer areas were also being snapped up.
“There’s quite a few owner-occupiers and families who have sold their family home and are renting out while they wait for their new home to be built. So they’re taking up some of that rental stock and driving the competition up.”
With HomeBuilder encouraging families to be out with their old home and build new, below are the five cheapest rentals across Cairns: 3A Coombes Street, White Rock: threebedroom house, $310 per week; 81 Ishmael Road, Earlville: four-bedroom unit, $310 per week; 11/189 Sheridan Street, Cairns North: threebedroom unit, $330 per week; 8 Hobson Drive, Brinsmead: threebedroom house, $340 per week; 25 Miles Street, Manoora: three-bedroom house, $350 per week.