With steady rents, declining listings, improved leasing figures and faster leasing times, data for the March 2018 quarter reveals Perth’s rental market is leading the charge in Perth’s property market recovery.

REIWA President Hayden Groves said the first quarter of 2018 showed Perth’s rental market had strengthened, with improvements recorded across all key indicators.

Perth’s rental market appears to be building on the momentum of the latter half of 2017, which is very encouraging not just for the rental market, but also for the overall property market. Historically, the sales market follows the rental market during a recovery, – Mr Groves said.

Median rent prices

Perth’s overall median rent price is $350 per week for the March 2018 quarter.

Mr Groves said this was the twelfth straight month of stable rent prices, with no changes recorded since April 2017.

All sub-regions experienced stable median prices except for the South West sub-region, which saw its overall median rent price increase $10 to $330 per week during the quarter, – Mr Groves said.

reiwa.com data shows there was a $5 per week increase to both the median house and median unit rent during the March 2018 quarter.

The median house rent increased to $360 per week, while the median unit rent increased to $325 per week, – Mr Groves said.

It bodes well for landlords that the house and unit median rents are improving simultaneously.

Leasing activity

There were 14,112 rental properties leased in Perth during the March 2018 quarter.

Leasing volumes for the March 2018 quarter are up 4.2 per cent compared to the December 2017 quarter, – Mr Groves said.

Four out of the five sub-regions saw an improvement in leasing volumes, with the Central sub-region (up 7.7 per cent) and North East sub-region (up 6.1 per cent) the stand-outs.

At a suburb level, reiwa.com data shows East Cannington, St James, North Fremantle, Ellenbrook and Booragoon saw the biggest growth in leasing activity levels over the quarter.

Listings for rent

Rental listings declined 4.5 per cent during the quarter, with 8,508 listings recorded at the end of March 2018.

Mr Groves said there had been a substantial reduction in the number of rental properties available in Perth over the last 12 months.

Compared to the March 2017 quarter, listings for rent are now 18.6 per cent lower than they were at the same time last year. This can be attributed to an increase in population growth to the state and fewer new dwelling commencements occurring in the metro area, Mr Groves said.

Average leasing time

It was two days faster to lease a property during the March 2018 quarter than it was during the December 2017 quarter.

It took 47 days on average for landlords to find a tenant during the March quarter, which is two days faster than the December quarter and three days faster than the March 2017 quarter, – Mr Groves said.

With stock levels declining and leasing activity increasing, the Perth rental market is finally starting to re-balance. For tenants, now is a good time to secure a longer-term lease before rents rise.