Rent slowdown in oz set to continue

Rents in Australia have seen a significant slowdown in recent years, a trend that is forecast to continue.

New CoreLogic RP Data shows that rental market conditions outside of the capital cities remain weak. House rents were flat to falling over the third quarter of 2015 across each of the regional markets, with weekly rents down the most in regional WA (2.6 per cent), regional NT (2.1 per cent) and regional Victoria (1.7 per cent). The remaining capital cities all recorded flat condition over the three months ending September 2015.

"With new housing supply increasing and investor purchasing at record highs, we have seen a significant slowdown in the rate of rental growth over the past couple of years and we expect this trend to continue over the coming year," says CoreLogic RP Data head of research Tim Lawless.

Annually, rents rose across some of the regional rental markets, but Lawless notes that the performance as a whole remains relatively weak.