By Jeremy Cook
The Southern Downs continues to rank among some of the worst regions in Queensland for rental stress, a fresh report has found.
According to Suburbtrends, a Newcastle-based property analytics firm, the Southern Downs ranked fourth in the state for regions reflecting “high levels of rental stress”.
In the September release of Suburbtrends’ nationwide rental pain index, only the Tablelands, South Burnett and Charters Towers regions were ranked higher with North Burnett rounding out the top five.
The index awarded each local government area across each state a rental pain score out of 100 based on variables such as rent change, advertised rentals, vacancies, vacancy change and rent affordability.
The Southern Downs returned a score of 91 with the report finding average rent prices had climbed by 10 per cent in the past 12 months throughout the region.
According to the report, the region’s rental vacancy rate sat at 0.8 per cent, while on average, 36 per cent of renters’ household incomes were being spent on rent alone.
The report noted how low vacancy rates typically indicated “a tight rental market and limited availability”.
“A key driver behind the high rental pain index scores in many of these LGAs is the low percentage of rental stock being advertised,” the report stated.
“When only a small fraction of the total rental stock is on the market, it creates a competitive environment, pushing rental prices higher and limiting choices for renters.”
The Southern Downs has been hard hit by rental pressures in the post-pandemic years. Vacancy rates have remained below one per cent in Warwick since June 2020 while Stanthorpe’s vacancy rates just reached that threshold in June for the first time in four years before dipping to 0.8 per cent as of August, data from SQM Research showed.
Stanthorpe real estate agent Logan Steele said demand had “eased off a fair bit”.
“We’re not getting the same amount of enquiries that we were getting even up to a couple months ago,” Mr Steele said.
Mr Steele said his Stanthorpe Real Estate office were still filling rentals “fairly well” but not at the same speed compared to two months ago or even a year ago. He said it was “a little bit hard to say” why demand had eased.
“Perhaps it’s the availability of work here,” he said.
“There’s a fair bit of farm work up here but that’s not for everybody, so I’d imagine it’s got a little bit to do with that as well.”
He said recent rental reforms which came into effect in June could have prompted some landlords to sell their investments. The regulations were designed to protect tenants but sparked criticism from the state’s peak real estate body over claims it would do the opposite.
The state’s peak renting body Tenants Queensland backed the reforms when they passed parliament, saying the changes contained significant improvements for renters.
Reforms included limits on rent increase frequency and rent in advance payments, a ban on rent bidding, and new requirements for bond lodgements.
Warwick real estate agent Helen Harm blamed current supply issues on recent legislative changes.
Ms Harm reported less properties were being listed on the rental market and said out of the 76 properties sold from her office’s stock of rentals in the past three years to this June, only 20 had remained on the rental market.
She said her office could still sometimes receive up to 20 rental applications in just one night.
“They’ve legislated trying to make this a level playing field,” she said.
“We’ve had people who are in jobs and positions where they’re happy to pay six months of rent up front.
“As of 6 June we can no longer take six months of rent up front. The most we can take is one month in advance.”
