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Brisbane’s rental market absorbed massive price rises as a result of it being a popular pandemic era place to live and buy. Picture: Darren England.
Shock figures show almost 40,000 Brisbane households face acute rental stress or homelessness – more than the rest of the state combined – after 30 per cent-plus rent rises across SEQ.
National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation head of research Hugh Hartigan told a UDIA breakfast in Brisbane on Wednesday that “Queensland has one of the higher levels of housing need as a percentage of the population” in the country.
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High levels of interstate migration led to a mass surge in rental demand and prices across Brisbane and SEQ. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt.
NHFIC said 12 LGAs in South East Qld saw rental price growth of over 30 per cent since the pandemic. Source: NHFIC.
“Approximately 39,700 Brisbane households face acute rental stress or homelessness, slightly more than the rest of Queensland where 33,600 households are in rental stress,” he said.
A dozen local government areas in South East Queensland logged rental price growth above 30 per cent rent from pre-Covid-19 to early 2023, NHFIC found, compared to one in Melbourne and six in Sydney.
“South East Queensland experienced the most synchronised upswing in rents in the country with 12 local government areas (LGAs) recording a more than a 30 per cent rise in rents from pre-Covid-19 levels through to early 2023,” Mr Hartigan said.
“In comparison, only 55 per cent of Melbourne’s LGAs saw rents rise by 10 per cent or less during the same period.”
A $22.6 million social housing apartment complex in Brisbane, Queensland, that opened off a collaboration between the Queensland Government, the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC), and specialist community housing provider BlueCHP. Picture: BlueCHP
Rent rises in Brisbane have outpaced the rest of regional Queensland and CPI rent growth.
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LGAs across South East Queensland include City of Brisbane, City of Gold Coast, Somerset Region, Sunshine Coast Region, Moreton Bay Region, Redland City, Logan City, Shire of Noosa, Scenic Rim Region, City of Ipswich, Lockyer Valley Region, Toowoomba Region.
Rent rises in Brisbane have outpaced the rest of regional Queensland and CPI rent growth since late 2021.
The pressure did not come from net overseas migration which was negative during Covid-19, but caused by Queensland’s significant net interstate migration which lead to extremely tight rental markets, he said.
There was some hope of relief ahead, with Mr Hartigan saying “the strong net interstate migration experienced in Queensland during Covid appears to be easing and this may slow the pace of rental growth in coming years”.