LOGAN has less available rental accommodation than it’s had at any time over the past 10 years.
March figures released last Friday by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland show vacancy rates of just 0.7% for the March quarter, a record low for Logan.
Less than three years ago, there were five times as many vacancies in the region.
Any figure below 1.5% constitutes a tight market in the eyes of REIQ.
Logan’s vacancy rate is lower than inner Brisbane and middle Brisbane, and comparable to most outer Brisbane suburbs.
Local real estate agent with 50 years experience Kerry Armstrong, from LJ Hooker Commercial, said he didn’t expect to see vacancies rising any time before the Olympics in 2032.
“I just can’t see things getting any better any time soon,” he said.
“There are a lot of people coming in this direction, there are not large volumes of land releases, and there’s the issue of the rights of property owners being taken away.”
Mr Armstrong said a number of investors were frustrated with an inability to evict poor tenants from properties they own.
Consequently, they were selling and investing elsewhere.
“Someone has got to stand up for the rights of owners,” he said.
Mr Armstrong said he’d never seen such a rental shortage in his long career in the industry.
“It wasn’t as if we had a great amount of vacancies to start with,” he said. “There’s just no relief on the horizon.”
REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said interstate migration had contributed to a population boost.
“Yet another factor that’s added to the squeeze on rental stock during this quarter is the February flooding disaster displacing people from their homes,” Ms Mercorella said.
She said with investors selling and the dominant purchasers being owner occupiers, more homes that were previously investment properties were effectively being removed from the rental market, shrinking an already scarce base of rental supply.
“With the second stage of rental reforms looming, the last thing we need right now in the midst of a rental crisis, is legislative reform which undermines investor confidence,” she said.
“With record low vacancy rates, and 36% of our population renting their homes, we can’t afford to reduce the appeal of investing in Queensland.
“That’s why we’ll continue to advocate for fair and balanced legislation that maintains a level playing field for both investors and tenants.”
