Canberra rental market sooo bad?

[Aulyna]

Got notice of moving out from my current tenant, as they are buying a house themselves after living at the ip about 2 years.

I was shocked while checking the rental price online this morning - the similar houses on the market is almost $150/w less than the current tenant paying :-o

Is it so bad in ACT anywhere?

 

[oracle]

Is it so bad in ACT anywhere?

Yes, it is. I have had 2 properties for rent after the tenants left. One was last year rented within few weeks and one last week still on the market. Both properties advertised at lower rents than before.

Cheers,
Oracle.

 

[luckyone]

Mine wasn't quite as bad as yours, but I did have to drop it $70 a week and wait 4 weeks to find a tenant.

 

[Allgood]

Wow, that sux. Where abouts in Canberra are these 2 examples? We have one in Ngunnawal that has had the same tenants since we bought it in 2006. Every 12 months the rent goes up $5 or $10 and is now on $400, but the last discussion we had was that the rental market has softened and we were advised to leave as is for the first time, hadnt realised that it was that drastic though.

Funnily enough, They've been on month to month for years, and it was only when the rental market softened that they asked to actually sign a new lease Probably because we had an agent through to give a sales appraisal (out of curiousity), so I guess it got them worried.
Hope you find a new tenant soon.
All good

 

[property_girl]

My tenant has made a unilateral decision to lower his rent by $150 pw. Comments on this thread confirm that he knows something I don't; eg rents have softened.

 

[Francesco]

Rent has dropped up to 20% in most suburbs although price seems to have either increased marginally or held its own, depending on which index you are assessing with.

This government has managed to dump the Canberra public service more than what Howard did from memory. There is a phenomenon among public servants called the 'transit lounge', where redundant public servants wait and many without a work desk.

 

[Jamie M]

Lots of OTP stock has caused vacancy rates to increase. Recently dropped one IP by $50 a week to generate interest :-(

They will rent eventually - allowing pets will help.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[geoffw]

My old property manager told me this week that rents are softening acros the board. Sitting tenants are asking- and getting- $50pw price drops- otherwise they will walk.

 

[The Fence]

Cycle, cycle.

 

[landlubber]

Yep. Agree. Both in SE Qld and Melbourne. Having troubles getting new tenants. Dropping rents. And improving stuff like aircon to get tenants. IPs that we're never vacant now drop 20 - 40 bucks and take 4 weeks or more to fill. LL

 

[kassy]

Hi,

We've been renting in Canberra for 3 years and just bought a property(we have a couple in Qld already). Our mortgage is going to be a few hundred a month lower than our rent. I think our land lord will get a shock when we give notice. There are some houses on the market for rent here since January though - we are renting in a new area of gungahlin. People don't seem to be seeing the market reality.

Funnily enough we got a call about 2 months from the managing agent to say the landlord wanted to put up the rent and we'd receive a notice in the mail. My husband told her they should be dropping the rent not raising it given vacancy levels. We never did get the rent increase. I think they'll have to drop the rent a fair bit when we leave as well.

Kassy

 

[Redom]

I have definitely experienced a significant fall in rents. So have most of my friends who are mostly renting. Its worked out quite well for me, negotiated a near 25% reduction on my old place, and have just been through the process of finding a new place...got a great deal @ a pretty significant markdown.

When I moved down here 3 years ago, it was a really tight market where it was actually very competitive finding a place. I assume yields would've been very good then, so it feels more like a correction in pricing.

Also driving around, i'm amazed at the supply that seems to be going up everywhere I look. It felt like I could count the developments on two hands when I first came (excluding new neighbourhoods of course), but now there literally everywhere in the inner/middle ring.

Only place where I think its holding up in yields is the Foreshore!! Seems to be a resilient rental market, at least anecdotally. Agents didn't move on price and didn't need to. Not surprised though, for my demographic, its by far the most attractive place to live in Canberra.

Would be interesting to hear peoples thoughts on impact on prices...auctions I've been to have been dead.

 

[kassy]

Redom,

We were looking to buy for a while in gungahlin and belconnen and seeing the same faces at the inspections in both places. At the start if this year, we never got RE callbacks after open houses but I have been called constantly in the last month or so. My mortgage broker also warned us to be careful negotiating as valuations have been coming in lower than purchase price in some areas down here...

Kassy

 

[Redom]

Interesting. I haven't noticed the valuation issue up in Gungahlin area so far, but its good to know. Not surprised given the supply issues up there.

Thanks Kassy.

 

[Jamie M]

Its worked out quite well for me, negotiated a near 25% reduction on my old place, and have just been through the process of finding a new place...got a great deal @ a pretty significant markdown.

lol - you sound like a dream tenant

Cheers

Jamie

 

[cimbom]

Redom,

We were looking to buy for a while in gungahlin and belconnen and seeing the same faces at the inspections in both places. At the start if this year, we never got RE callbacks after open houses but I have been called constantly in the last month or so. My mortgage broker also warned us to be careful negotiating as valuations have been coming in lower than purchase price in some areas down here...

Kassy

That's a bit concerning. We purchased in mid last year in Belconnen but haven't noticed any drastic reductions in our immediate area

 

[property_girl]

Only place where I think its holding up in yields is the Foreshore!! Seems to be a resilient rental market, at least anecdotally. Agents didn't move on price and didn't need to. Not surprised though, for my demographic, its by far the most attractive place to live in Canberra. .

If you're talking about Kingston Foreshore, to rent might be okay but be careful if you're thinking of buying any unit there. Flooding basements, bathrooms with no waterproofing, windows falling out, rain running in between walls. The lists go on. The ABC did a report on the building problems, mainly at the Foreshore but generally in Canberra. One newspaper has said:
What a shame the entire development is in fact a wasteland of empty streets and architecturally stunted structures.
No passing traffic, no nature strips. Developers have built the maximum number of units possible, with not enough parking. Much better value are the apartments built pre-2010 on the other side of Wenthworth Avenue.

 

[Redom]

Really?! I did not know any of that. Thank you heaps for sharing.

Haven't thought too seriously about buying a PPOR in Canberra, but if i did, that'd be where i'd go.

A few of my friends rent there and haven't mentioned anything you've noted. Definitely has less nature strip to it, a little bit different to the rest of Canberra i suppose. Its pretty awesome having water/mountain views at the same time and it being un-interrupted from your balcony!

Cheers,
Red

 

[Jamie M]

I'm not personally a big fan of the foreshore - I don't understand the attraction of the water views there either. Granted there aren't too many water views in Canberra but that part of the lake isn't overly spectacular in my opinion.

Cheers

Jamie

 

[Redom]

Style over substance perhaps? Or maybe its just the coffee. Its probably enough to swing me!

IMO its got a different buzz to it when compared to the other parts of Canberra. Given that much of the population are from other cities in Australia originally, they may find it more familiar to parts of 'home'.

I think it caters well to the younger demographic in terms of lifestyle.