Landlords are demanding huge rent hikes of up to 40 per cent across the Gold Coast and northern NSW while tenants fear being left homeless as vacancies remain at an all-time low.
The asking rent for houses soared by 32 per cent for houses, and 14 per cent for units in the Gold Coast region over the year, according to data by SQM Research.
This four-bedroom home at 167 Campbell Street, Sorrento is for rent for $2,500 per week via Harcourts Coastal.
For Coast suburbs south of Burleigh Heads, rents were up a staggering 40 per cent and 8.1 per cent for units since last year, while the northern suburbs were up 28 per cent for houses, and 11 per cent for units.
This luxury eight-bedroom home at 1031 Edgecliff Place, Sanctuary Cove is available to rent for $3,300 per week plus $13,200 bond via Gallery Group Real Estate.
The average rent for a house on the Gold Coast this month was $744.50 per week, up 10.1 per cent from last quarter. For units, rent averaged $515 per week, compared with $449 a year ago.
Breaking it down further, weekly rent for a house in the southern suburbs now averaged $846.50, or $788.90 for suburbs in the north.
Meanwhile, rental vacancies on the Coast remained at an extremely low 0.8 per cent in April, after hitting 0.7 per cent in December 2020, from a spike of five per cent at the height of the pandemic in May 2020.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher predicted double-digit rent hikes throughout 2021 while vacancy rates remained so low.
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said migration from capital cities post-COVID, coupled with the predominance of owner-occupiers in the booming property market, were factors behind the spike in rents.
“We are seeing a surge in rents as vacancies drop on the Gold Coast and on the NSW North Coast which included Ballina and Byron Bay as people migrate out of the big capital cities and move to regional and warmer locations,” Mr Christopher said.
This five-bedroom home at 97 TE Peters Drive, Broadbeach Waters is listed for rent for $2,750 per week via Kollosche.
“The shift upwards in rent from January to April of this year has been phenomenal.
“It is really scary for tenants, and rents will rise again while the vacancy rate remains super tight,” he said.
Rental hikes in Coast suburbs south of Burleigh Heads reached 40 per cent over the past 12 months. Pic: Supplied/Professionals Burleigh Heads
Accelerated land release by Gold Coast City Council to facilitate new housing development, potentially along the region’s western fringe, was required to alleviate the crisis, Mr Christopher said.
“Landlords would not be able to do this unless tenants were paying, and right now demand for rental property on the Gold Coast is astronomical.
“Development activity has truly fallen behind demand,” he said.
