Net immigration up for a 7th month
Short-term arrivals into Australia were 14.3 per cent higher than a year earlier at 753,320 in August, seasonally adjusted, as tourists from China, New Zealand, Japan, and the USA picked up.
Still, there's a fairly long way to go for the figures to get back up to pre-pandemic levels.
Permanent and long-term arrivals accelerated on a net basis for a 7th month, rising to +467,410 over the year to August.
While the correlation with official net overseas migration figures isn't exact, it's pretty clear that immigration has reaccelerated in calendar year 2025 to date.
Naturally this is going to cause a few renewed pressures in the rental market.
Rents accelerate again
Domain reported last week that rents were at a record highs in the September 2025 quarter, but with capital city rents potentially stalling of late.
Sydney's rents had increased by 44 per cent over the five years since September 2020, from $540 per week to $780 per week.
It's always worth watching what's happened to asking rents, as these figures can be a leading indicator for what will follow for actual rents.
SQM Research released its latest rental vacancy figures this morning, with Sydney's rental vacancy rate falling to just 1.3 per cent in September, and Brisbane's vacancy rate tightening to just 0.9 per cent.
Rental vacancy rates were below 1 per cent in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Hobart, and Darwin.
Nationally, the rental vacancy rate has eased to just 1.2 per cent and is trending lower.
Sure enough, asking rents are reaccelerating, rising by 0.8 per cent over the past 30 days alone to be 4.8 per cent higher over the year.
Louis Christopher of SQM Research commented:
“The national vacancy rate holding at 1.2% suggests the rental market remains very tight,
with little sign of meaningful supply increases.
“Sydney and Brisbane continue to see strong tenant demand, while Hobart remains at
near record-low vacancy levels.
Rents are still rising in most capitals, particularly for
houses, despite a slight easing in rental growth rates compared to last year."
Obviously this isn't great news for renters or for the Reserve Bank's inflation battle.
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