Canberra rents on the rise

Rental growth has started to pick up in Canberra with units and apartments in pockets of the capital recording significant rises over the past year.

The latest Domain Rental Report found that rents for units in Yarralumla surged by a staggering 25.5 per cent to average $690 per week. This suburb also provides strong returns for investors with yields averaging 5.4 per cent.

In Dickson, units rose a moderate 4.4 per cent to fetch an average weekly rental of $595. Popular with investors, the suburb delivers returns of about 5.61 per cent.

While a number of suburbs in the Woden Valley region experienced a dip in average weekly house rents over the past year, Hughes, Mawson and Phillip bucked the trend, rising instead by 8.7 per cent, 7.8 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively.

Garran recorded a slight fall of 0.6 per cent but remains one of the more expensive suburbs in which to rent in Canberra, at $805 per week. Over the past five years, rental growth there has climbed by 37 per cent.

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Cook has been one of the fastest-growing suburbs over the past five years, recording an impressive 44.4 per cent increase in rents to now fetch an average of $650 a week for a house.

Overall, Canberra house and unit rents increased for the first time in a year over the December quarter.

According to the report, house rents reached $680 per week, remaining $10 lower than the record high seen in March 2023. Unit rents returned to the record high of $560 a week, last seen in December 2022, recouping the loss observed throughout 2023.

Canberra is the only capital city to record lower house rents annually, and it’s the city’s longest stretch of decline since 2014 (the third consecutive quarter of an annual decline).