Rental prices up, but where are Australia’s cheapest rents?

If you live and rent in a capital city, you may well be spending more on where you reside, with home rental rates on the rise.

First home buyers may well be getting things a little easier in major capital cities as the prices begin to fall, but renters could well begin to see the exact opposite, with the rents rising this past quarter.

We’re only three full months into the year, but that’s already enough time for CoreLogic to track a rise in prices, with an increase of one per cent for the past few months, compared with 0.4 per cent over the previous 12. That’s a change that occurred across the entire country, and in capital cities, the rent is doing the same, with Hobart seeing a 3.6 per cent increase, followed by Perth at 1.8 per cent and Canberra at 1.5 per cent.

Sydney is still the most expensive of the capital cities to rent in, even though it has seen a decline of 3.1 per cent in rents over the past year. However, with a median weekly rent of $582 per week, it’s not far from Canberra’s of $550, and is still a good hundred or so higher than Melbourne’s average of $454 weekly.

While that news isn’t likely to settle you down, if you’re thinking of staying as a renter and want to pay less, you may want to consider a sea-change from one side of the country to the other: Perth is reportedly Australia’s most affordable capital city to rent in, with a median rental price of $385, even though it has increased over the past three months.

That makes Perth the least expensive of Australia’s capital cities and Sydney the most. Outside of the capital cities, however, CoreLogic says the rental markets in regional Australia are doing better than capitals due to an excess of supply in major cities.

“This seasonally strong first quarter has delivered the highest increase in weekly rents since the corresponding first quarter a year ago,” said CoreLogic’s Research Analyst Cameron Kusher.

“Our regional housing markets are performing marginally better than the capital cities, many of which have been experiencing weaker rental market conditions in recent years due to excess housing supply and growing investor activity,” he said.

“Quarterly rents have increased across all capital cities, bar Sydney and Darwin. Hobart is experiencing notable growth, with rents increasing by 3.6 per cent over the past quarter. However, with a median rent of $582 per week, Sydney remains Australia’s most expensive city for tenants by far.”

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