Many property investors enjoyed a big rise in their rental income during 2022.
CoreLogic has reported that the median rent for an Australia investment property increased 10.2% during the year. The city-by-city breakdown was:
- Brisbane 13.4%
- Adelaide 12.9%
- Sydney 11.4%
- Perth 11.2%
- Melbourne 9.6%
- Hobart 5.3%
- Darwin 5.1%
- Canberra 4.3%
During 2022, the national vacancy rate fell from 2.1% to 1.2%. To put it another way, the number of untenanted rental properties fell from 21 per 1000 to a very low 12. That forced tenants to compete harder, pushing up rents.
“Rents are still rising in most capital cities and regional areas, with vacancy rates low,” according to CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen.
Between September 2020 (when this period of rental increases began) and December 2022, Australian rental rates increased 22.2% – the largest increase in a 27-month period in recorded history.