The easiest places in which to rent in Australia: The (small) list of postcodes where tenants have the upper hand

New analysis of Domain’s latest Vacancy Rate Report shows there are just 10 regions across Australia where the playing field between a renter and a landlord is evenly matched or expected to fall in favour of the former.

This comes after the latest Domain Rent Report revealed rental prices had risen in each capital city over the year, but remained unchanged in Canberra and Hobart. 

Typically, a balanced market is when a vacancy rate sits between 2 and 3 per cent, showing supply and demand have stabilised.

Across the combined capital cities, the vacancy rate was 0.9 per cent, down 1 percentage point year on year. There were 16,266 vacant rentals in July, down 8.6 per cent over the year.

While there are a handful of balanced markets or areas that are heading into balanced territory, Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell says each market will differ according to the number of listings available. 

“At a capital city level across Australia, it’s a landlord’s market,” she says. “The nation’s overall vacancy rate declined, but what you’ve got at a capital city level is different dynamics.

“There are a few markets that are more balanced than others, showing the diversity across the rental market.”

For tenants hoping to secure a rental, Molonglo Valley in the ACT is their best option. The region had a vacancy rate of 3 per cent in July, up 1.5 percentage points year on year – the strongest yearly increase of all capital-city regions.

Should the region continue on its upward trajectory, it will become a tenants’ market, Powell says.

The Domain Rent Report showed the region’s median asking rent for a house was $700 a week, down 6.7 per cent year on year. Units were $540 a week, up slightly by 1.9 per cent over the year.

$975.00 per week

18 Lindsay Pryor Street, Wright ACT 2611

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Sean Rogers of Blackshaw Weston Creek & Molonglo says tenants are slowly gaining the upper hand when it comes to selecting rental properties.

“A lot of people are applying, getting accepted and then pulling out, because they have been accepted for another property at a lower rent,” he says. The tenants, “definitely have more choice at the moment and we’re getting applications pretty quickly but, of course, with people pulling out of the process, it’s a little bit frustrating.

“We’re careful in that when we lease a property, we’re not advertising a price that is too high because there is a lot of competition out there and the risk is … you don’t want [the property] to sit empty for too long,” Rogers says, adding that townhouses “are the popular choice for renters”.

“They’re looking at the high-$600 to $700 a week for a townhouse,” he says.

Melbourne City followed Molonglo Valley with a vacancy rate of 2.3 per cent in July, up slightly by 0.8 percentage points year-on-year; with Hawkesbury not far behind at 2.6 per cent in July, up 1.4 percentage points year-on-year.

The median asking rent for a house in Melbourne City was $650 a week, up 13 per cent year on year, while units were $600 a week, up a staggering 33.3 per cent over the year. 

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9/1 Elgin Street, Hunters Hill NSW 2110

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In Hawkesbury, the median asking rent for a house was $610 a week, up 7 per cent year on year, Domain data showed.

Catherine Phillips of Stone Hawkesbury says her tenants’ price range for a house was between $480 and $580 on average, but “some tenants on the higher end of the market are also looking for properties [to rent] up to $800 a week”.

Phillips says despite what the data shows, she finds the rental market in the region to still be in favour of landlords. 

“Our office doesn’t have a high vacancy rate … in fact, our vacancy rate is probably at the lowest it’s been for quite some time,” she says.

“We’re finding that it’s hard for people to secure [a property] because there’s not a lot to choose from. I know that, typically, we follow what Sydney is going through, but we’re finding that we have more tenants looking but not enough stock.”

Despite signs of competition between tenants, Phillips says managing landlord expectations amid rising interest rates has been a juggling act.

“I have a lot of owners trying to increase rents exorbitantly and we’re trying to help them understand the market … it doesn’t matter what happens to your own mortgage repayments, but [rent prices] need to be comparable to what the market is saying,” she says.