22 January 2009

Canberra rents bite

| johnboy
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The ABC informs us that Canberra rents are the highest in the country and the fastest rising:

    A leading property data group has found Canberra’s rental market is the most expensive of all Australian capitals.

    Recent figures from the Australian Property Monitors show Canberra recorded the biggest increase to average weekly rents in the December quarter.

    Rent prices increased by 5 per cent for homes and 5.3 per cent for apartments.

Note to Gubbmint. Build more houses. They don’t have to be cheap houses, just more of them please.

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We’re living in a complete dump in Downer, been there for 3 years, the landlord has let it run down and the house is verging on un-livable. We’re desperate for a better place, not in Ghunghalin where Internet connectivity is permanently crippled, and it seems rents are sky high and there is a shortage? We currently pay $330 / week for this absolute dump, which may be cheap, but the house is falling apart and we deserve better. We want to eventually save for a place too. We are considering Queenbeyan, is this a viable option? What’s the preferred tenant profile? We’re a professional 30s married couple.

Rental for a three beddie, one bathroom in Watson last time I looked averaged out at about $430 per week, that’s at the bottom end of the spectrum too.

I remember about ten years ago paying $110 a week for a similar house in Dickson.

Whilst the innner-north is slightly more expensive you save a bit on fuel and such if you work near the city which maybe evens things out a bit.

But trying to save for a house while renting in Canberra at the moment is pretty slow going and, in some cases, almost unsustainable.

The home I am currently renting in canberra had dropped in rent in order to get someone (me) into it. Just a small 3 bedroom house with a couple of secure parking spots probably built in the late 80’s. I believe as the overall wealth of Australians has dropped that we will have a signifigant drop in land prices this year which will allow younger people to buy houses and free up more rentals.

It’s very short sighted to just spread houses across the country side, but it would help bring rents down. More quality high rises are needed in my opinion and some thought into just how many people should live in Canberra for sustainability. If less people lived here the rents would be lower. So I suggest all you renters go out there and bag Canberra big time, most Australians are pretty good at that already.

Timberwolf6510:27 pm 22 Jan 09

Ruby Wednesday said :

Paid my last rent payment today…hopefully ever!

Wish I could say I’d unpacked my last moving box though. It’s not even been a month, though, so I don’t feel too guilty … yet.

We were paying $310 a week at a private rental, which was under market rate for the building (though our place needed repainting). Market rent probably was around $350 or more. Our mortgage payments are only a few hundred dollars more a fortnight, without the hassle of worrying if the unit owner is going to sell, redecorate or do god-knows-what to result in you needing to move, and with the benefit of acquiring an asset in the longer term.

Good on you, best of luck:)

Ruby Wednesday9:26 pm 22 Jan 09

Thanks, Thumper! We were very cautious about buying, and made sure we can afford it in a variety of unfortunate (and hopefully unlikely) circumstances, but it will be nice to not be at the whim of landlords any more. We’re definitely going to take advantage of low interest rates to pay twice as much as we have to off the mortgage while they last.

Ruby Wednesday8:47 pm 22 Jan 09

Paid my last rent payment today…hopefully ever!

Wish I could say I’d unpacked my last moving box though. It’s not even been a month, though, so I don’t feel too guilty … yet.

We were paying $310 a week at a private rental, which was under market rate for the building (though our place needed repainting). Market rent probably was around $350 or more. Our mortgage payments are only a few hundred dollars more a fortnight, without the hassle of worrying if the unit owner is going to sell, redecorate or do god-knows-what to result in you needing to move, and with the benefit of acquiring an asset in the longer term.

Timberwolf655:26 pm 22 Jan 09

Thank god I don’t have to rent anymore, it’s a nightmare out there…

Skidbladnir said :

and by “relief on the way”, I don’t mean a cataclysmic fall in prices due to a Recession\Depression…

haha….yes that really would not be much relief at all would it?

and by “relief on the way”, I don’t mean a cataclysmic fall in prices due to a Recession\Depression…

yep rents in canberra are getting way too high…i myself have just moved to yass as i wanted to escape the group house cycle and need room for vehicles so could not have lived in a unit as that is all i could afford in canberra

oh c’mon,
There’s plenty of 1 and 2 b’room flats in Oaks Estate all cheap…LOL

Oddly enough, the Sydney Morning Herald this morning had a little chart which showed that over the last year, the capital city that experienced the biggest rent rises was Darwin and that Canberra actually had one of the smaller rent increases. Anecdotally, the rents being asked for in the units in my complex have actually decreased a bit in the last 6 months or so.

There is relief on the way for some sectors who need actual affordable housing…
But it won’t solve all, or even most problems.
And depending on how much the average Canberran actually earns, may not help most Canberrans.

Canberra’s rents do bite. As do a few of the rental agencies I’ve dealt with.

Lady_from_Holt3:23 pm 22 Jan 09

But not itsi bitsi land with ginormous houses on it, so people might want to actually buy them to rent out. Value (thus capital gains) is in the land, not the house

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy3:17 pm 22 Jan 09

It’s going to take years to solve this problem. Releasing more land (in more locations) would be a good start.

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