MEDIA RELEASE
Saturday 16th January 2010

New data on Brisbane’s rental housing market was released yesterday and it shows the city’s rents flat-lined during 2009. According to the Residential Tenancies Authority statistics, the December quarter again showed no change to median weekly rents.

Bees Nees Research Managing Director, Rob Honeycombe says a typical Brisbane house has now had the same rent for a year, with apartments rising just 1%. So this week’s controversial Australian Property Monitors forecast for an 8% rise during 2010 is “ambitious”, he said.

“There’s a shortage of rental homes, no doubt about that. But 8% growth is a big leap from 0%”, Mr Honeycombe said.

December’s stats showed a 3 bedroom Brisbane house rent remained at $370 per week while a 2 bedroom apartment still costs $355.

Mr Honeycombe said the APM forecast pointed to greater job confidence amongst Brisbane tenants and the end of the First Home Boost as stimulants for higher rents.

“On the ground, real estate agents are reporting a busy January market with a lot more turnover than any time during 2009. But tenants are not generally agreeing to big rent increases. There’s obviously still caution about their jobs and rent affordability remains top of mind.”

“Landlords are still cautious too. Their mortgage rates are up and they don’t want to risk a vacant home.”

“This will be a better year for property investors but we’d argue the rent rise will be a steady one.”