- 19 days to lease a rental in Perth as of March 2021
- Median rent remains at $400 per week
- REIWA President calls for more rental stock
Earlier, we reported on the high level of sales activity in the Perth market, where the median time to sell a property is now just 17 days.
This high level of activity has also extended to the local rental market, where leasing activity increased by 15.6% in March, according to Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) President Damian Collins.
“There was increased activity in the rental market during March, which can be attributed to tenants and property owners making preparations for the end of the rental moratorium.
Despite this, leasing levels are still down 18.8 per cent compared to this time last year due to the rental shortage the state is experiencing.”
Damian Collins, REIWA President
However, the median rent price remained at $400 per week – the third consecutive month this has happened. Suburbs that bucked the trend by recording strong rent increases included Bassendean and Joondalup, where rents increased by $15 per week for both.
Mr Collins pointed out, however, that Perth has the most affordable rental market nationally.
“While the Perth median rent has increased $40 per week over the last year, it is still $50 lower than it was in 2014 and Perth remains the most affordable place for tenants in the country,”he said.
19 days was the median time to lease a rental in Perth during March 2021.
“This is the same amount of time it took in February, but nine days quicker than it was in March 2020. The last time rentals were leased this fast was in June 2013,”
“This marks the seventh consecutive month listings for rent have sat below 3,000. The figure for March is down 1.6 per cent compared to February 2021 and a substantial 49.9 per cent when compared to March 2020,”
Mr Collins concluded by remarking that Perth ‘desperately’ needs to significantly increase its amount of rental stock.
“Now that the rental moratorium is over, we should start to see more properties come to market in the coming months, but it is not going to fix all the problems. We need to incentivise property investment in WA so we can meet the demand for rental housing.”
