- Median house rent now $600, up $20
- Median unit now $495 , up $15
- The national median for capital city houses is $469
- Number of vacant rentals is down by 24 per cent
According to data from Domain’s Rental Report Canberra has been crowned as the most expensive city in Australia to rent, a title it has not held for over a decade.
The median rental price for houses in the Capital has increased by $20 to $600, higher than the next two most expensive cities, Sydney and Darwin, where the median for both is $550.
This is much higher than the national median rent for capital cities which is currently $469.
The median unit rent has gone up by a similar amount at $15 making the median now $495.
This is higher than the national capital city median rent which currently stands at $432.
Although December saw a lift in Canberra’s traditionally tight vacancy rate of 1.1 per cent, the number of vacant rentals is down 24 per cent overall compared to last year.
Traditionally the planned city has been expensive to rent in due to the unique nature of the local workforce, along with relatively low supply. However, there are numerous other explanations for Canberra’s recent jump in rental prices.
Being the capital city, Canberra has a strong public service which saw comparatively little job losses as experienced by other parts of the country in the private sector due to the cities reliance on sectors that are directly funded by the government.
Additionally, Canberra has seen low Covid-19 cases from both interstate sources – despite usually having high volumes of traffic from New South Wales and Victoria – as well as fewer international arrivals, therefore the city has experienced little disruption in the way of lockdowns.
