Jason Rose

Rental pressure set to continue

Posted January 5, 2010 13:07:00

The Housing Industry Association (HIA) says figures on new home sales are further evidence the rental market will remain tight in 2010.

A survey of major builders conducted by HIA shows overall home sales rose by just 0.3 per cent from October to November.

Sales of new stand-alone houses rose by 0.8 per cent, but apartment and unit sales slumped by 4.9 per cent.

HIA’s chief economist Harley Dale says the weak apartment sales will do nothing to help very low rental vacancy rates.

“We likely are going to see continued considerable upward pressure on median weekly rents in most capital cities and in many regional areas of Australia through at least the first half of 2010,” he said.

“Apartment sales continue to be a real worry. It’s very difficult to achieve finance to develop medium and high-density residential projects right around Australia.

“That unfortunately is a situation that’s probably going to take some time to turn around.”

via abc.net.au