National residential property rental vacancy rates fell to 1% in May 2022, from 1.1% in the month of April, while asking rents rise again by another 2% over the past 30 days.
This is based on the figures released by the latest SQM Research.
The total number of rental vacancies Australia-wide now stands at 36,478 residential properties, down from 39,616 in April.
Vacancy rates
Sydney and Melbourne vacancy rates fell to 1.5% and 1.7% from 1.6% and 1.9% respectively.
In the smaller capital cities, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Darwin and Hobart, vacancy rates sat below 1.0%.
Vacancy rates in the Melbourne CBD and the Sydney CBD remained steady at 2.9% and 3.5% respectively.
Source: SQM Research
Asking rents
Over the past month to 15th June 2022, the capital city asking rents rose by another 2% with the 12-month rise standing at 15.6%.
Capital city house rents are recording 12-month increases of 15.8%, while unit rents have risen by 14.8%.
Rental vacancy rates continued to tighten across the country and there is nothing yet in the data that would suggest we are about to see a reprieve.
The national rental crisis continues on unabated and as a result, asking rents are skyrocketing.
Sydney's combined rents have risen by 17.5% just over the past 12 months and Brisbane is up by 18.6% for the same period.
Meanwhile, Melbourne is up by 14.8%.
Source: SQM Research
Reductions in household size, short-term stay listings eating into longer-term lease availability and now the likely rise in immigration levels, are all factors contributing to this crisis.
There will also be ramifications for headline inflation once the Australian Bureau of Statistics updates its rental series with the actual market.