Queensland’s tight rental market has eased slightly, but experts warn the calm could be short-lived as significant increases are already priced into rental offers.
New data from realestate.com.au shows Brisbane’s vacancy rate rose to 1 per cent in July, up 0.3 percentage points over the month and 0.2 points more than a year ago.
But River City remains one of the country’s tightest rental markets, ranking only slightly higher than Hobart and Darwin, which both have a vacancy rate of 0.9 per cent.
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Brisbane’s vacancy rate has increased, but it is still tight.
For comparison: Canberra is at 1.9 percent, Melbourne at 1.8 percent, Sydney at 1.7 percent, Adelaide at 1.2 percent and Perth at 1.1 percent.
Vacancy rates also rose in regional Queensland, rising 0.2 percentage points to 1.4 per cent in July, as did regional NSW and Tasmania.
Victoria has the highest vacancy rate of the regions at 1.9 per cent, followed by Western Australia (1.7%) and the Northern Territory (1.5%).
Regional South Australia is at 1.2 percent.
Nationwide, the vacancy rate rose to 1.5 percent in July, the highest level since February 2022.
Both capital cities and regional regions recorded a vacancy rate of 1.5 percent.
Anne Flaherty, senior economist at Realestate.com.au, said tenants had seen a slight improvement in choice, although supply remained well below what would be considered a balanced market.
“Tenant choice improved in July as the volume of available rental properties increased across capital cities and regions compared to three months ago,” Ms Flaherty said.
“Although vacancy rates have increased, they remain well below the 2.5 to 3.5 percent level that is considered a balanced market.”
Anne Flaherty, senior economist at Proptrack
But Ms Flaherty said Brisbane remained in a cluster of smaller capital cities where rental supply was particularly limited.
“Vacancy rates remain particularly low in many of Australia’s smaller capital cities, with the lowest rental supply seen in Hobart, Darwin, Brisbane and Perth,” she said.
Ms Flaherty said stronger investor activity likely helped boost rental supply this year, although that improvement may not last.
“In the 12 months to June 2026, the number of new loans to investors reached the highest level since the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) began publishing this data in 2019,” she said.
“This increase in investors is likely the reason for the recovery in vacancy rates this year.
“However, following the cut in tax relief for investors in the May Budget, this trend is now set to reverse.
“This is expected to cause the rate at which new rental supply is added to slow in the future.”
The report comes after the Federal Government announced significant reforms to the tax regime for property investors in the May Budget.
These days the only way to access negative interest is to build a new home, while the 50 per cent capital gains tax rebate is now also linked to increases in housing supply.
Modeling suggests that rents would only rise by $2 per week as a result of the reforms, but the reality is much harsher: some landlords are raising rent by $100 per week.
This Peregian Springs home is currently listed for $1,000 per week, but come June of next year that price will rise to $1,100
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This Mount Gravatt East home is listed for $685 per week, but come March next year the price will rise to $780 per week
The realestate.com.au vacancy report comes after the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) released its quarterly June vacancy report at the end of July.
It described Queensland’s rental market as “changing” after more than half of the state’s regions recorded increases in vacancies, including some areas where vacancy rates reached their highest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic.
This Tingalpa home is listed for $770 per week, but in February the price will rise to $860 per week
However, it also became apparent that the nationwide vacancy rate had only reached 1 percent, well below the healthy range.
“Despite these improvements, the stark reality is that rental availability remains limited across much of Queensland, with 29 regions reporting paltry vacancy rates of one per cent or less, and only six regions recording vacancy rates above two per cent,” the report said.
The Bay Islands region, which includes Russell Island, Macleay Island, Lamb Island and Karragarra Island, and the Isaac region recorded vacancy rates of 4.3 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.
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