Fraser Coast vacancy rates remain tight with fewer options for renters

The June Quarter 2022, REIQ’s Residential Vacancy Report showed the vast majority of Queensland continues to endure incredibly tight and relatively at vacancy rates, well below one percent, a far cry from a healthy 2.6 – 3.5 percent range. Brisbane Local Government Area (LGA) vacancies dropped to a new low of just 0.8 percent with fewer options for renters than ever before. However, interestingly some positive shifts were observed in coastal holiday markets such as Noosa (1.1%), Caloundra Coast (0.9%), and Sunshine Coast Statistical Division (SD) (0.8%) – all easing by 0.3 percent or more towards a slightly healthier rate. Other tourism centres maintained fairly steady vacancy rates over the quarter with slight increases restricted to 0.1 percent in Gold Coast (0.5%), Sunshine Coast LGA (0.6%), Maroochy Coast (0.5%), Hinterland

(0.5%), and the Whitsundays (0.8%). Hervey Bay (0.6%) took a small step backwards retracting 0.2 percent, while Fraser Coast (0.5%), Bundaberg (0.4%), and Cairns (0.5%) held rock steady over the quarter. In the regions, Burdekin in North Queensland had the most notable drop, halving to 0.5 percent. Maryborough which stayed put at 0.2 percent after two years of virtually no vacancies. The neighbouring regions of Gympie and South Burnett both rose slightly to 0.3 percent and have hovered around this barely-above-zero mark over the last four quarters. REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said quarter after quarter of drastically low vacancy rates were taking their toll on Queensland. “Queenslanders have been enduring these wafer-thin vacancy rates for some time now and these conditions are understandably having both social and economic ramications,”

Ms Mercorella said. “Real estate agents in regional parts of Queensland have reported that incredibly tight vacancy rates are making it tough for hospital workers, teaching staff, and students to nd a place to live in proximity to their essential work or study

“These people bring skills and spending to the regions, all contributing to the economic prosperity and social fabric of the area, and it’s a truly concerning loss to these communities when they simply cannot house them. “What we need now is creative solutions to breathe the life back into our atlining vacancy rates and a genuine long-term plan for housing our population now and into the future.”

“Chances are that for every property, there are multitudes of applicants who would make perfect tenants – however, the sad reality is that only one application for each property can be approved, and people are missing out simply because it’s so competitive,” she said.