Vacancies jump in middle-ring hotspots
The Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) reported that vacancy rates in middle ring Sydney ticked down to 2 per cent in inner ring Sydney in December, roughly in line with last year.
December and the early part of the new year is normally a soft patch for the rentals market and we expect to see vacancies rise.
All those new apartments are beginning to show in middle-ring vacancy rates though, with the middle ring recording a vacancy rate of 2.6 per cent in December.
It's normal to see temporary spikes when projects are completed, so we'll have to wait to see whether this proves to be anything more sustained.
Here are the figures smoothed on a 4mMA basis to take out some of the noise.
There are plenty of new apartment vacancies in the Hills District, Parramatta region, and Canterbury Bankstown.
There was also a bit of an increase in outer Sydney vacancies to 2.3 per cent according to the REINSW.
If visuals are more your thing, take a look here where I roamed the suburb of Canterbury to take a look at what a construction boom actually looks like in practice.
See also, Parramatta, Campsie, and Blacktown.
See also, Parramatta, Campsie, and Blacktown.
The REINSW figures mirror similar results found by SQM Research which I looked at here.
Sydney apartment rents still increased by 3 per cent last year according to CoreLogic data.
Remember that there are now tens of thousands of international students in the major capitals these days, potentially making the vacancy rate more seasonal.
The acid test for the Sydney rental market will come in the March figures.
