An easing of rental cost rises in Greater Geelong is happening, albeit at a snails pace, according property marketplace Domain.The latest quarterly snapshot from the organisation shows while rents have climbed from $450-a-week to $470-a-week in the 12 months to June, there is a glimmer of hope for renters.
Domain’s Dr. Nicola Powell said that despite the 4.4% growth, the rate of growth is slowing down.
“The Geelong vacancy rate is increasing,” Dr. Powell said.
“So that vacancy rate now sits at 1.7%, for a balanced rental market to occur we’d really like that vanacny rate to sit between 2-3%,” she said.
“But what I would say is that rental growth is slowing down.
“So while it’s still rising, it’s rising at a much slower pace and that really speaks to the increase in rental supply that we’re now starting to see.”
Dr. Powell said the rate of growth tends to vary across Geelong suburbs.
“We’ve got some areas that are seeing stronger rates of rental growth, so Hamlyn Heights, Bell Park and Newtown have all seen rents increase roughly between 8-9% over the past year.
“But on the flipside there are some suburbs we’re asking rents have actually declined over the past year.
“Jan Juc and Portarlington have also declined about in-between 2-5% over the past year.
“It really does go to show that depending on the suburb there are slightly different rental dynamics.”
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