Perth’s vacancy rate rises past 1 per cent

Perth’s vacancy rate was 1.4 per cent in August, 0.7 percentage points higher than the updated July figure.

REIWA CEO Cath Hart said the last time the vacancy rate was over 1 per cent was June 2022, when it was 1.1 per cent.

“The rental market has been challenging for several years, with strong demand and declining supply leading to record-low vacancy rates and rising rent prices,” she said.

“The market has been moderating over the past few months, with median rent prices stable, supply slowly increasing and properties taking longer to lease.

“These changes have now shown up in the vacancy rate and we expect further easing of the vacancy rate over the remainder of the year.

“However, 1.4 per cent still represents a tight rental market and remains well below the 2.5 – 3.5 per cent REIWA considers to be a balanced market so there will be a period of sustained improvement before we begin to see more equilibrium.”

Ms Hart said conditions varied from suburb to suburb and encouraged property owners to speak to their property manager about the state of the market in their area.