Weekly rents soar ahead in all ACT regions

Median weekly askings rents across Canberra have soared. All regions in the ACT have experienced an annual growth in rent prices, according to new Domain Group data.

Growth has been strongest in the housing market with asking rent in the Woden Valley skyrocketing, up by 11.1 per cent in the past year to $600 per week.

This is the biggest jump in the ACT and sees Woden holding the second highest median for houses.

Domain chief data scientist Dr Nicola Powell attributed Woden’s elevated performance to the size of the homes in the region.

“Those renting a house in Woden Valley would be your family market after a larger home which generally has a higher asking rent,” she said.

“Diplomatic residences in O’Malley also drive up the median.”

Unsurprisingly, the data showed the Inner South as the most expensive area to rent a house in the nation’s capital, with an asking rent of $680.

While the Inner North recorded the third highest asking rent in the housing market, at $590 per week.

Rent for houses were the lowest in Queanbeyan, at $460.

Although Woden’s asking rent for houses is the second most expensive, asking rents for units are only $380 per week – one of the lowest in the region.

“That’s a reflection on the quality of the stocks. The unit market is much smaller in Woden Valley and is concentrated around the Woden centre, where rents are generally lower,” said Dr Powell.

Rents for units are highest in the Inner South at $500 per week, followed by the Inner North at $460 then Tuggeranong and Weston Creek both at $420. However, Dr Powell said the Weston Creek market was very small with only 121 properties leased over the six-month period.

The lowest rents for units are in Queanbeyan where the asking price is $280, however, Queanbeyan experienced the greatest yearly growth in asking price, jumping 12 per cent.

• Related: Canberra renters in worst properties: New report
• Related: Number of rentals in Canberra significantly declining
• Related: Canberra records highest rental yield growth in nation

This comes after Domain’s State of the Market Report released last week revealed Canberra’s overall median weekly asking rent for houses has jumped 6 per cent annually to $530, and 5.9 per cent to $450 for units – a record high for the unit market.*

“The regional data really echoes what we have been seeing in the bigger picture in the Canberra market and that is rents are rising across the board,” Dr Powell said.

“There has been growth in the rental market for quite some time now. House rents have been growing since mid-2015 and unit rents have been growing since the end of 2015.”

For investors, Queanbeyan’s unit market has provided the strongest gross rental yields in the region at 6.71 per cent, despite having the lowest weekly asking rent.

The housing market in the Inner South delivered the lowest yield in the region at 3.23 per cent.

“It’s our highest priced markets which have some of the poorest yields so it shows there is a disconnect between what the purchase is and what the rental income potential is,” added Dr Powell.

*Data in the State of the Market Report measured the three months to March 2018 whereas ACT regional data measured the six months to March 2018. Queanbeyan was not included in the State of the Market Report.