Rent is now more expensive on the Gold Coast than in Sydney, as a mass exodus from capital cities drives prices through the roof




Surfers Paradise. Image: Getty

  • Rent prices for houses outside of major cities skyrocketed in the first quarter of 2021, with higher average rents recorded in coastal cities like the Gold and Sunshine Coast than in Sydney and Canberra.
  • Data from the ABS shows the exodus from capital cities has sustained well into 2021, as rent increases become more widespread across regional and coastal hubs.
  • “The rents now on the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast are comparable to the expensive parts of the ACT and Sydney,” Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said of the report’s findings.
  • Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

Weekly rent for a house in the Gold and Sunshine coast now rivals the average cost of renting in Sydney, as the tsunami of sea-change movers continues to drive up prices in Australia’s coastal cities well into 2021.

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Figures from Domain’s Rent Report for March revealed that house rents rose at the steepest pace of annual growth in about 15 years, making The Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast among two of the most expensive places to rent a home in the country.

Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said the unprecedented rent swell is the result of the ongoing trend towards sea and tree changes by capital city-dwellers, sparked by the shift towards remote working post-pandemic.

“The rents now on the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast are comparable to the expensive parts of the ACT and Sydney,” Powell said.

She said Domain’s data showed vacancy rates sitting at 0.3% on the Sunshine Coast and 0.2% in Noosa and surrounding areas.

“This is extremely low, to the extent I would say there’s a rental crisis in some of these areas,” she suggested, adding that “what will be happening on the ground is that prospective tenants are offering more (than the asking prices) because it’s so hard to find vacant property.”

The figures align with data that shows the pandemic has accelerated sea-change trends, as evidence of moves away from major cities continues to translate to the property market.

ABS data from February showed Australia’s capital cities had a net loss of 11,200 people in the last quarter of 2020, coinciding with the end of Australia’s first lockdown and the largest quarterly loss on record.

Domain’s report shows that house rent prices in the Gold and Sunshine Coast have rocketed by up to $75 a week in key suburbs.

It found Sunshine Coast house rents had swelled by $80 over the past year to reach $580 a week, and house rents on the Gold Coast by $50 to reach $560 a week.

This, compared with Greater Sydney where weekly house rents are now $550, with Canberra and Brisbane rents sitting at $600 and $440 a week respectively.

Ray White Surfers Paradise Group general manager Amber Roberts told Domain one of its biggest markets right now was interstate migration, followed by sellers waiting to jump back into the property market who hadn’t realised the rental market was being squeezed.

“At our peak time, we were getting 14,000 inquiries a month, and it’s normally around 5000 to 6000,” Roberts said.

“It just doesn’t seem to be slowing down.”

The report also showed rent prices in several Gold Coast suburbs including Surfers Paradise soar by 7.1% over the past quarter to $750 a week, with tenants frequently paying more than the listed price.

Roberts said she’s getting $100 to $150 a week more for rental properties than she would have six months ago, with re-lets renting for 20-30% more.

“We’ve also had massive shifts in the prestige end of the market,” she said, adding she’s getting $300 to $400 more than the listed price per week on properties at the top of the market.

“That end of the market exploded because Sydney and Melbourne buyers saw more value compared to what they could get at home,” she said.

On the Sunshine Coast co-principal at McGrath Noosa, Kirsty Kernot told Domain it was now impossible to find a rental for less than $500, with locals feeling the brunt of rental price hikes.

Of the new arrivals, she said Sydney sea-changers were major players in the market, seeking a similar lifestyle outside of the city.

“In a normal market, once we get over summer and into winter, it dies off massively … but we’ve been waiting for things to slow down, and they haven’t,” Kernot said.

She said she thinks this will only accelerate if and when Australia’s borders reopen.

“And the next thing is when overseas borders open, and those expats come back – that will be the next wave.”

Source: Thanks msn.com