As quickly as the virus hit, like all Australian businesses we transformed our operations so that we could continue to offer our services under new restrictions.
Despite all the challenges thrown at us and our landlords, we finished the month with an impressively low average vacancy rate at 2.01 per cent. It is excellent to see our landlords’ investments secure despite REIWA recording a 21 per cent dip in leasing activity in April*. The drop in activity is of no surprise, as renters decided to stay put as they waited to gain clarity on the situation.
Listings were up 4 per cent in April as we saw additional new stock coming to market from short term rentals such as Airbnb seeking long-term lease arrangements.
The JobKeeper and JobSeeker allowances have played an integral role in our ability to recover rent from those impacted by the Coronavirus and has certainly minimised financial impacts due to job loss being passed on to our landlords. In most scenarios, we’ve managed to coordinate a credit arrangement, where the tenant agrees to pay back rents owing when they receive their backpay from the government. We're finding both parties to be comfortable and happy with this kind of arrangement.
Perth’s median rent remained stable at $350. We saw a $5 drop in median rent for house dwellings to $375, while the unit median rent remained stable at $340.
According to CoreLogic, Perth rents are up 2.0 per cent over the past 12 months, outperforming the national average of a 1.4 per cent rise*. The volume of properties listed for rent were still down 23 per cent when compared to April last year*, which is predominantly due to consistent, organic population growth over 12 months and new construction coming to market at a reduced rate.
As we head into May, home opens have recommenced, and this ease in restriction alone has improved sentiment and anecdotally we’ve observed an increase in activity in a lot of cases.
All in all, despite some potential challenges ahead, we're feeling somewhat relieved with the outcomes from April and optimistic signs of the Perth property market post COVID-19.
*Perth market snapshot for the week ending 3 May 2020
*Perth property prices stabilise despite lower sales volume
*Realmark CoreLogic briefing 20 April 2020