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Rental price growth took a breather in the December quarter after hitting record quartery high growth in September with no movement on rents for homes during the quarter.
But for the first time since the September 2020 quarter, rental price growth in capital cities has outpaced the regions on an annual basis, according to the latest REA Group’s PropTrack report.
The report, which tracks the change in advertised rental prices across capital cities and major regional centres on a quarterly and annual basis, found that nationally there was no change in house rental prices during the December 2022 quarter despite some change in the previous quarter.
However, apartment prices increased by 2.2 per cent during the last quarter of last year.
During the 2022 calendar year, national house rental prices increased by 7.5 per cent and apartments by 9.5 per cent.
It was a mixed bag, however, for the capitals.
Perth had an overall decrease in median rents by 3.2 per cent across the December 2022 quarter, with a decrease in median house rents of 4.0 per cent and no change in median unit rents.
Sydney median rents were up 1.8 per cent with an increase in unit rents of 1 per cent and a decrease of 3.2 per cent in house rents; while Melbourne rents increased by 2.3 per cent across the December 2022 quarter—apartments were up 1.2 per cent but no change for house rents.
Median rents: December 2022 quarter
| Region | All home median rent | Quarter-on-quarter change | Year-on-year change |
| Sydney | $560 | 1.8% | 7.7% |
| Melbourne | $450 | 2.3% | 9.8% |
| Brisbane | $490 | 0% | 11.4% |
| Adelaide | $450 | 0% | 11.8% |
| Perth | $450 | -3.2% | 4.7% |
| Hobart | $500 | 0% | 5.3% |
| Darwin | $550 | 0% | 1.9% |
| ACT | $595 | -0.8% | 6.3% |
| All capital cities | $495 | 1.0% | 10.0% |
| Rest of NSW | $480 | 0% | 6.7% |
| Rest of Vic | $400 | 0% | 5.3% |
| Rest of Qld | $485 | -1.0% | 7.8% |
| Rest of SA | $310 | 0% | 10.7% |
| Rest of WA | $450 | 0% | 12.5% |
| Rest of Tas | $390 | -2.5% | 5.4% |
| Rest of NT | $450 | -7.2% | -2.2% |
| All regions | $450 | 0% | 7.1% |
| National | $480 | 0% | 6.7% |
^ Source: REA Group PropTrack Market Insight Report for January 2023
The median advertised rental price nationally remains at $480 per week with Sydney at $560 per week and Melbourne at $450 per week, which is 6.7 per cent up on the same quarter last year, as prices increased throughout the rest of the 2022 calendar year.
By comparison, rents increased by 4.7 per cent during the 2021 calendar year.
Rents across all capital cities have overall increased by 1 per cent compared to the September 2022 quarter and by 10 per cent compared to the December 2021 quarter.
There was no change to rents in regional areas on a quarter-on-quarter basis but there was an increase of 7.1 per cent on a year-to-year basis making it the first time capital city rents have grown faster than regional centres since the September 2020 quarter.
The report predicts capital city rents will keep growing while regional rents may ease slightly.
