Rental vacancies on the Sunshine and Gold Coast have lifted above 1 per cent, the highest level for since 2020 and 2021 respectively, according to SQM.

Price growth in the sales market has also fallen back substantially in regional Australia. CoreLogic said the number of areas where house values increased in the year to April had fallen to seven.

However, there had also been some positive growth in the commuter markets such as the Gold Coast.

Noosa also said its campaign to fix the rental problem had resulted in 64 owners shifting out of the short-term rental market to the permanent rental market since February. Nationally, about 3000 more rental properties have hit the market this month.

Noosa mayor Clare Stewart said that was a good result, although council believes there are about 5200 properties in the region in the short-term market through businesses like Airb&b.

SQM, which charts the rental market said the crisis was now over in places like Canberra, but problems existed elsewhere.

It said regional rents fell over the past month and vacancies had increased for the third consecutive month. The Gold Coast median rent dropped 1.1 per cent to $881 a week and vacancies in Brisbane’s CBD had increased rapidly to 1.7 per cent.

“Most regional rental vacancy rates continued to rise sharply as a sign of a population flow reversal back to the larger capital cities,” SQM managing director Louis Chrisopher said.

It came as the Commonwealth Bank’s cost of living report found that renters in their 30s were feeling the most pressure from the cost of living.

“I believe there has been a population exodus back to our larger cities, driven by a return to office requirement set by many office employers,” Christopher said.

“We are now recording rental falls or at least a stalling in rent increases for most out-of-city regions around Australia. Existing property investors and would be property investors need to be aware of the risks that have risen of a corresponding and extended dwelling price correction in such regions.

“What is apparent from today’s data is that the rental crisis is easing in the nation’s regions as well as some of our smaller capital cities including the nation’s capital where we are now confident in calling the rental crisis over.

“Going forward, it is way too early to call the rental crisis over in our larger capital cities.

“The building slump, combined with extremely strong population growth rates will see to it there will remain an overall shortage of rental properties.

“We note however weekly rental listings nationwide have increased so far in the month of May by another 3000 rental listings. So, it is likely we will record another rise in rental vacancy rates across the nation for this current month.”