What Canberra region median house rents reveal about the market: Domain Rent Report

Canberra’s median weekly asking rent for houses is still the most expensive of the capital cities, but the uneven shifts within the capital’s regions indicate a change is coming, experts say. 

The latest Domain Rent Report revealed the regions of Weston Creek, Tuggeranong, Queanbeyan and Belconnen all recorded median weekly asking rents of $650, all below the capital’s median of $680. These were the only regions below the median in the capital. 

Both Belconnen and Queanbeyan’s median remained unchanged over the quarter, while Tuggeranong saw a 3.2 per cent increase. Weston Creek’s median, on the other hand, decreased from the previous quarter by 3.7 per cent. 

Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said this uneven change in Canberra’s regions was likely indicative of a shift in the market. 

“Canberra as a whole recorded the first decline in house rents since mid-2020 … that really highlights that those tough conditions we saw, particularly in late 2021 and early 2022, have eased,” she said. 

“A little bit of that pressure has been released in the rental market due to an increase in investment activity flowing into new supply on the market.” 

Canberra’s vacancy rate is at a 21-month high of 1.1 per cent and has been steadily increasing over the past four months, which has played into the overall drop and unsteady changes within the capital, she added. 

“Affordability issues tenants are currently facing have caused more declines in house rents than units, but it’s also about vacancy rates, as Canberra has seen the biggest increase in its rate of all capital cities,” she said. 

“The increase in supply in Canberra, while remaining tight, is much greater than these cities – it has gone from 0.5 per cent at its low this year to 1.1, which means it has doubled during this time.

“There is starting to be more supply on the market, meaning tenants have more choice, but in saying that, it still remains a landlord’s market.”

Blackshaw Weston Creek & Molonglo senior property manager Kylie Bickerton said the increase in rental options for tenants coincided with a downturn in the market. 

“During the sales boom there were a lot of investors selling their properties so they could get the best possible price for their property,” she said.

“There were then a lot of tenants receiving notices to vacate, who were forced to search for a rental and they had that real urgency to find something.

“Now that the market has softened, we are finding not as many people are selling their investments, therefore that has eased off the urgency for tenants, and has meant there are slightly more options available as a result.” 

Changes in the rental market have been felt all over Canberra, and the “change has been quite substantial”, Bickerton added.

While the Molonglo and Woden Valley regions remain above Canberra’s median house rent, both recorded a quarterly drop, down 5 per cent to $713 and 4.4 per cent to $705, respectively. 

Further decreases, Bickerton said, will likely occur over the long term. 

“Over the next couple of months, we will still see more properties entering the rental market, as investors purchase and tenants are less desperate,” she said. 

“I think prices will steadily decline from that slight drop that we have already seen, because traditionally at this time of year there is always a steady influx of people in the market.”

More rental listings always appear as the weather gets warmer and people begin to come out of their winter hibernation, said Jonny Warren Properties property manager Kimberley McLarty. 

For this reason, McLarty said it might not be realistic to say for certain that the market was changing, as the changes in median weekly asking rents for houses remained small. 

“It’s not unusual for Canberra to see more listings in the springtime, so I don’t know whether [the changes in region medians] is due to anything other than the traditional Canberra price market,” she said. 

“I think it’s an indication of the time rather than a change in the market … I don’t think I have seen a drop enough to suggest anything more, but prices have definitely started to level out across it.

“As we come into this spring period, more and more listings appear on the market, and there is usually a bit more demand too, and I am certainly noticing there is still interest.”