What about Rents?

Rents information from yourinvestmentpropertymag.com.au

Rents are on the rise, this is good news for investors.

There are around 1600 post codes in Australia, and 30% of them have a vacancy rate below 2%, and almost 90% of those postcodes, have only 3 out of a 100 rental properties vacant.

Victoria is unfortunately, an anomaly, with a vacancy rate of around 3%, where the rest of the country sits around 1.7%.



So what does this mean?

It means since 2008 weekly rents have been on the rise, in fact has risen 5.75% per annum  Brisbane's annual increase is 6% where Melbourne's is at 4.8%  A shining star when it comes to rental returns is Darwin, with a rent growth of 11.8%

Currently the rental markets in Perth, Canberra and Sydney are strong due to the low level of new builds, which will increasingly put pressure on the markets.

In Sydney you'll find that there is strong demand from tenants to live close to the CBD and in Sydney's eastern suburbs.  In Melbourne, the demand is in the inner and middle ring of suburbs. The vacancy rate is higher in Melbourne due in part, to the supply that is available after a high level of recent new builds. This oversupply issue in Melbourne is likely to get worse, with more dwellings coming on the market in the next few years.

But when it comes to investing, it doesn't matter what city your investment property is in, what does matter is that in the long term you need to choose the right dwelling. A property that will appeal to both owner occupiers (to push up the price of similar property) and to tenants who will pay you rent. To get those people, you need to buy in an area that is supported by infrastructure, close to a growing workforce and designed to be shared - think of bedrooms and bathrooms.

So what is your take? Do you think that rents will rise still? Are you confident enough to start investing again (if you have chosen to put it on hold?)