The question everyone is talking about: Where did all the rental properties go?  At the start of the year, the Perth rental market started to pick up – and then COVID hit.

Legislation that was introduced restricting property managers from evicting tenants in breach of their lease lead to investors losing confidence in the market. Potential new managements were quickly swallowed back up and things went quiet.

Fast forward to now and suddenly we see the market booming. Vacant properties now have tenants and the market is looking up. Applications are flooding in and its not uncommon to see lines of potential tenants out the door of properties they are eager to inspect.

So how did we get here?

Perth is currently experiencing its lowest vacancy rate since 2008, sitting at 0.9%, well under the standard 3%.  Being on the ground and talking to people, we have discovered some compelling factors attributing to strong demand for rental properties:

1. Perth residents are returning home from being overseas
2. FIFO workers who are generally based in the Eastern States are being incentivized to stay within WA
3. Tenants that are currently in a property are staying put, as they are protected from rents rising.
4. Landlords, particularly those who purchased in the boom and have not enjoyed particularly generous returns to date are selling their investment properties, to seize the opportunity a buoyant market presents.
5. The lack of properties coming onto the market suggesting lack of investor confidence as a direct result of the extended legislation.

The key take-away is that there has not been a better opportunity to invest in property. The sales numbers are low, with a high rental yield. This is complemented by historically low interest rates. Blackburne Mortgage Broking’s, Brian Willis confirms that “currently, interest rates for both owner occupiers and investors alike are sitting in the low 2%’s across several lenders.”

If you are interested in learning more about Blackburne Property Management Perth services, please reach out to our team today.