10 Fast Facts you need to know about the Toowoomba Rental Market
10 Fast Facts you need to know about the Toowoomba Rental Market
1. Rental prices have dropped across the board since January 2024 to 20 March by up to 9.49%
2. In January 2024, average house price was $522, as at 20 March, it is $509/week
3. In January 2024, average 2 bed units rented for $370, as at 20 March, it is $385/week
4. In January 2023, we received 883 rental enquiries, the market average was 277, and January 2024, we received 385 rental enquiries. In March 2023, we received 654 rental enquiries, the market average was 164, and March 2024, we received 321 rental enquiries. This shows that we are receiving half of the enquiries for the same periods as last year.
5. The quality of tenants is very low – “DINKs and working families” are extremely rare
6. In the peak rental period of April 22, our vacancy was 0.3%, in January 2024 it was 0.9% and is currently sitting at 0.7%
7. Generally, if we can’t rent a property within 10 days of being advertised, it is 5%-10% overpriced. Owners are better off adjusting their expectation around price than leaving the property vacant.
8. Stage 2 of the Govt’s Rental Reforms are being discussed. Some of the key items being tabled are rent bidding to be banned, rent increase will be tied to property not tenancy – ie you cant increase rent for 12 months, so if a tenant vacates property, you need to offer new lease at same rate, entry notices to change to 48 hours instead of 24 and limiting break lease fees. We will update you when the reforms are legislated.
9. Success Realty is ranked 7th out of 132 real estate agencies in Toowoomba based on leasing the highest number of properties and 3rd for independent agencies. The top 6 agencies have a rent roll of 1000 plus properties and we currently manage 430. Our rent enquiries (1605) and application enquiries (718) far exceeds the local averages of 546 and 106 respectively, for the last 3 months.
10. Your property is managed by Toowoomba’s best agency with a rent roll of under 1000 properties.
(source: SQM Research - Property - Weekly Rents - 4350 and ignite.com.au)
Overall, the rental returns are still extremely strong and the return on investment in Toowoomba far outweighs other areas, however we now have to work with a softening of the rental market and work hard to find quality tenants and the prices have to be inline with market expectations. We have enjoyed a 2 year period of strong rental growth and a quality tenant pool. At the moment, we need to adjust to this slow down and we will work with you to get the best price and best tenant in the shortest time.
