How Brisbane’s wealthy have managed to skip the rent crisis
Ascot was Brisbane’s only suburb where rents actually fell in the past year, according to property analysts CoreLogic.
Among Brisbane's expensive suburbs, Ascot appears to be a standout with a falling rent.
More than 40 per cent of the rental market increased by double digits, according to CoreLogic.
But Ascot, which is by far the city’s most expensive suburb with a median house value of $2.1 million, saw rents fall 0.1 per cent in the past 12 months and the reason may be that the staggerng weekly rents in the suburb had reached an affordability limit.
Median rents in Ascot are $1133 a week. Bulimba is slightly ahead with $1140, but the Gold Coast is where the real action is. Broadbeach’s median rent is above $1400 a week and Mermaid Beach takes the crown at $1544 a week, slightly ahead of Bundall’s $1500. Noosa, on the Sunshine Coast, could only manage $1129 a week.
Among Brisbane’s expensive suburbs, Ascot appears to be a standout with a falling rent. Kangaroo Point’s rent jumped 15 per cent and Clayfield’s 10 per cent.
That compares with places like Robertson, in Brisbane’s south, where rents have jumped 21 per cent and the more working-class areas like Durack where rents rose 17 per cent and Deception Bay 12.8 per cent.
CoreLogic’s Kaytlin Ezzy said that of the 3812 markets analysed only 6 per cent had falling rents in the past year.
“The mild -0.1 per cent decline seen across house rents in Ascot has likely been driven by growing affordability concerns, with rents now 28.8 per cent higher than they were at the beginning of Covid.
“Given the cumulative rise in rents over the Covid period and the rising cost of living, many potential renters likely have hit their affordability limit, forcing them to look towards more affordable rental options in the unit market (up 14.4 per cent over the year) or to more affordable markets nearby. The resulting easing in demand has seen Ascot house rents fall -0.1 per cent over the year.
“In the past year, we’ve seen rents increase in every capital and rest-of-the-state region except for Canberra, where there’s been a 1.9 per cent decline,” she said.
The vacancy rate remains tight everywhere, but has improved marginally in recent weeks, and new rental listings were down 11 per cent on the five-year average.
