Rush to the regions reverses

Regional reversal

Bit of a tongue-twister, but the rush to the regions has now reversed, as employers increasingly want employees back in the office. 

Domain's rental vacancy figures showed capital city vacancies diving -46 per cent over the past year to record lows, but regional vacancies finally easing, rising +37 per cent year-on-year. 

Source: Domain

Nationally rental vacancy rates fell to all-time lows at 0.8 per cent.

Source: Domain

Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide all have record low vacancy rates.

Melbourne in particular has recorded enormous tightening, with Sydney and Perth not too far behind.

I doubt there's much respite on the horizon for Sydney and Melbourne, with Chinese searches for rentals rising 175 per cent year-on-year, and student visa applications for the most recent month 40 per cent above previous record highs at 42,000 for January.

Source: Domain

More probably needs to be done to encourage prospective landlords, with the lending hurdles in place at higher levels than we're previously seen.