Rent prices still increasing but rent rise easing in regions

In the past year over 40 per cent of Australian suburbs recorded a rent increase of 10 per cent or more, according to CoreLogic's latest figures.

The increase in rent largely depends on where you live.

In the past year, the combined capital cities had an 11.7 per cent rent increase, compared to 5.4 per cent for the regions.

While rents are still increasing in most areas the rate of increase is slowing down in regional areas.

"The pace of monthly rental increases peaked about March last year and has been easing ever since so the pace of growth has been moderating which is seeing that trend to decline," CoreLogic economist, Kaytlin Ezzy said.

The report found the regional monthly rental growth peaked in March 2022 at 1.2 per cent and has since continued to decline to 0.3 per cent in May 2023.

One reason for that decrease in regional areas, Ms Ezzy believes is changes to migration.

"We're also seeing that return to office," she said.

"So, the surge of interstate migration has calmed down quite a bit, not so much from people leaving the capitals, but more so from people in regional areas moving to the capital [cities]."

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Ms Ezzy says the overall supply of rental listings has been quite low across regional Australia but they are starting to return to normal.

"As more rental listings come back to the market we would expect to see that pace of rental increase continue to ease over the coming months."

Across Australia, all capital cities have seen an increase in rent except for Canberra which had a -1.9 per cent decrease in the past year.

In outback (north) Western Australia there was a 13 per cent increase in a year, with the median rental value well above Australian capital cities, currently at a staggering $854 per week.

The report found some houses and units had a decline in rent in the past year, mainly located in Hobart, Canberra, and regional areas.

"There are a few markets that have recorded some mild declines Northern Territory, regional Tasmania, and regional South Australia being ones who've seen values fall over the past month but they're still relatively high compared to where they were at the beginning of COVID," Ms Ezzy said.

The report found since the onset of COVID, capital city rents have risen 25.7 per cent and regional rental values have increased 29.2 per cent.