While the Canberra rental market was flat in 2023, it’s still the second most expensive city in which to rent a house, according to the latest PropTrack Market Insight Report.
The report found the median advertised rental price in Canberra was $610 (houses and units combined) in the December 2023 quarter, unchanged compared to a year ago.
Key findings in the report about the ACT rental market are that median advertised rents in Canberra rose 2.5 per cent over the December quarter to $610 per week. However, compared to the December quarter 2022, rents in Canberra were unchanged, providing some reprieve from the strong rent growth recorded since the pandemic.
House rents in Canberra rose 3 per cent across the quarter to sit at $680 per week – the second most expensive house rental price in the country, behind Sydney at $750.
Canberra was the only market in the country to see house rents decline compared to the December quarter in 2022, down 2.2 per cent.
Unit rents in Canberra were up 1.8 per cent over the December quarter and also up 1.8 per cent over the past year to sit at $560 per week.
Nationally, key findings from the report include:
Median advertised rents nationally rose 1.8 per cent over the December quarter to $580 per week. That
brings rents up 11.5 per cent, or $60 per week, compared to a year ago.
Rents in the capital cities (including Canberra) surged 13.2 per cent compared to the same time a year ago, bringing them to $600. While this is still very fast growth, the good news for renters is that it was the slowest pace of annual growth since early 2022.
Units in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have seen particularly sharp increases in the past year, up 15 per cent to 17 per cent.
Perth has seen the fastest rent growth over the past year – reflecting its incredibly low rental vacancy rate, the second tightest behind Adelaide. Perth has seen rapid growth for a number of years, and median advertised rents are now up 66 per cent compared to pre-pandemic.
In contrast, regional rental markets have seen more moderate growth. Rents were flat across regional areas in the December quarter and have been stable at $500 per week since June.
