The hunt to find a rental property on the Gold Coast remains a struggle, with next to no improvement in the number of available properties.
According to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, the rental vacancy rate on the Gold Coast was sitting at 1.6 per cent in the September quarter.
That’s slightly better than the 1.5 per cent recorded in the June quarter, but is still considered tight.
A healthy vacancy rate is classed as being between 2.6 and 3.5 per cent.
The vacancy rate on the Gold Coast is marginally higher than the state average of 1 per cent.
Statewide, there are 34 out of 50 regions with a vacancy rate of less than 1 per cent.
REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella says the ongoing tough conditions point to a chronic undersupply across the state, and recent tax changes will make the situation worse for renters.
“You have to go all the way back to the December quarter of 2019 to find the last time Queensland’s statewide vacancy rate sat in healthy territory, Ms Mercorella said.
“For just as long, the REIQ has been calling for greater housing supply, both through building more homes and ensuring government policy settings encourage new property investment and give investors the confidence to continue supplying rental housing.
“Following the Federal Government’s significant taxation changes to negative gearing and CGT announced in the May Budget and amid rising interest rates, we can see a pullback in new investor demand.
