Blink and you’ll miss it: Qld’s fastest moving rental suburbs

Rental properties in Queensland are being snapped up in record time – twice as fast as before the pandemic – with agents and owners inundated with as many as 20 applications within 24 hours.

Queensland is now facing its shortest times ever for homes being advertised for rent – ​​just 10 days for Murgon in Wide Bay, the fastest moving suburb in the regions, and 11 days for Joyner which is the quickest in Greater Brisbane, with not a single suburb in the top 20 of either areas below 14 days on market now.

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PropTrack economist Angus Moore said the median time a rental is listed on realestate.com.au was down to three weeks nationally, which he said “is very quick, nearly a week faster than it was pre-pandemic” – with Queensland rentals snapped up even faster still

“We’re seeing very tight rental markets in much of the country but particularly SEQ. There are just not a lot of rentals around at the moment,” he said. “The number of rentals are significantly down and vacancy rates are very low, and that’s driving strong competition which is why we’re seeing them rent so quickly and why agents are seeing so many applications.”

Mr Moore said a lot of investors sold out of properties during 2020 taking the capital gain, which reduced the rental pool, although borrowing to that sector had grown this year to about a quarter of new housing lending.

“The number of investors coming in will take through this year and probably into next year before it starts to take real effect,” he said.

Murgon’s time on the rental market is three times faster than it was pre-pandemic while Joyner in Moreton Bay is more than twice as fast as pre-Covid.

The biggest reduction in time on the rental market has come out of Bowen in the Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday area which saw a massive 25 days slashed, with homes now gone in 12 days.

Dilleen Property buyers agent Eddie Dilleen, who bought nine rental properties for himself in Qld during the pandemic – apart from those he helped negotiate for clients, said none of the 700-plus rentals his company managed were vacant now.

“I have been seeing properties having 20 applications within 24 hours from the time they are advertised online and in most cases rented within days,” he said. “There is a massive shortage and rents have also increased in many areas up to 40 per cent.”

Even properties that had rent rises – going from around $280 per week to be re-rented at $400 per week – were taken within days, he said.

Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said it was a tough market for those who haven’t secured a property – or who didn’t have the option to renew their current lease.

“Renters right now with secure leases, we are not seeing a rental crisis. The crisis however is occurring for those that are looking for a rental property right now, whether that is because their lease term is over, they are looking for a bigger (or smaller) property to live in or they have moved to a different geographic area .”

She warned there was no end in sight yet given population growth was expected to be higher this year than the past two years, and ongoing problems in the construction industry would limit new development.

In Brisbane, renters in Moreton Bay are facing the biggest stress of locking down a property making up half of the capital region’s top 20 shortest times on the market for rentals.

Paige McGregor of RE/MAX Northern – Albany Creek, who has a five bedroom home with a large backyard and gardens listed at $1,000 a week at 14 Mattie Lee Court, Joyner, said the market there was “crazy at the moment”. Realestate.com.au listings show just three properties for rent in Joyner – two five bedders and one four bedders priced from $675 to $1,000 a week.

Moreton Bay’s rental crisis is now acute, with the median time an Arana Hills home is listed for rent sitting at just 12 days, while three other suburbs see homes gone in 13 days – Upper Caboolture, Brendale and Dakabin, and five other suburbs there take just 15 days now – Ferny Hills, Mango Hill, Murrumba Downs, Griffin and Deception Bay.

Ipswich suburbs saw median time on market for rentals slashed the most across the Greater Brisbane region, with Laidley homes renting out 16 days faster than pre-pandemic, with homes gone in 12 days, while Flinders View was 12.5 days faster renting in 13 days.

BRISBANE’S QUICKEST RENTALS:

11 days: Joyner Moreton Bay South (-12 days)

12 days: Laidley Ipswich (-16); Arana Hills Moreton Bay South (-6.5)

13 days: Flinders View Ipswich (-12.5); Dakabin Moreton Bay South (-12); Brendale Moreton Bay South (-11.5); Upper Caboolture Moreton Bay North (-10); Bahrs Scrub Logan-Beaudesert (-10); Lutwyche Brisbane Inner City (-6).

14 days: Keperra Brisbane West (-9); Deception Bay Moreton Bay North (-9); Fairfield Brisbane South (-8); Thornlands Brisbane East (-8); They beat Brisbane East (-8);

Mango Hill Moreton Bay South (-8); Murrumba Downs Moreton Bay South (-8); Griffin Moreton Bay South (-8); Gaythorne Brisbane West (-8); Fitzgibbon Brisbane North (-7); Ferny Hills Moreton Bay South (-5).

REGIONAL QLD QUICKEST RENTALS:

10 days: Murgon Wide Bay (-15)

11 days: Warwick Darling Downs-Maranoa (-14); Tinana Wide Bay (-11).

12 days: Bowen Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunday (-10); Atherton Cairns (-9); Peregian Springs Sunshine Coast (-9); Gympie Wide Bay (-9); Toowoomba Wide Bay (-9).

12.5 days: Svensson Heights Wide Bay (-6.5); Yandina Sunshine Coast (-5.5).

13 days: Pimpama Gold Coast (-12); Millbank Wide Bay (-12); Coombabah Gold Coast (-9); Meridian Plains Sunshine Coast (-9); Ormeau Gold Coast (-8); Maudsland Gold Coast (-8); Varsity Lakes Gold Coast (-8); Bohle Plains Townsville (-8); Kewarra Beach Cairns (-6); Oxford Gold Coast (-5).

(Source: PropTrack)

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