Rent.com.au Monthly Market Report for January 2019

Report Highlights

• Three cities saw a jump in median rental price for houses in the first month of the year, but
  for Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Hobart price growth was stagnant.
• Melbourne’s apartment rents surged in January, now third highest in the country.
• Signs of green shoots are emerging in Brisbane’s rental market, with median weekly house
  and apartment rents recording growth for the first time in months.
• Across all property types, Perth was the cheapest place to rent a room in January at
  $126/week.

Days on Market

“As many renters view the start of the year as the ideal time to find a new home, January is typically a
busier month for rental properties than any other time of the year,” said Mr Bader. “With high
demand from tenants comes an influx of new rental listings and available properties to rent which
can lead to increased competition.”
The new data for January showed a general increase in the time apartments and houses were on
market, month-on-month. Activity slowed most significantly in Melbourne houses, where properties
took an average of 29.9 days in January to shift, 36% longer than in December 2018. Year-on-year, it
was Perth apartments that showed the biggest improvement, with leasing periods up 22.1% on
January 2018, now 37 days.

Perth Market

Considering Rent.com.au’s room price metric, Perth was the cheapest place in Australia to rent a
house ($370/week), as well as an individual room in January. The data showed that Sydney
(somewhat unsurprisingly) topped the list at $267/week for a single room, followed by Canberra
($215/week) and Melbourne ($185/week).