THE rental market is increasingly difficult to access for prospective tenants across the region.
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A range of factors have led to the market being the “tightest it’s been in years”, Ararat Ballarat Real Estate operations manager Jamie Lampard says.
“I’ve been in the industry 12 years and I’ve never seen the market like this before. Vacancy rates are well below one per cent. I think there are less than 10 properties for rent in Ararat,” he said.
Mr Lampard said infrastructure projects such as Bulgana Wind Farms, Rivergum Residential Treatment Centre and others were attracting workers needing housing, and current tenants were staying on longer, freeing up fewer properties.
He also said that the projects meant money was being poured into the region, increasing its economic value and attractiveness to investors.
“We’re seeing a huge amounts of out-of-town investors coming into the marketplace in Ararat and that’s because they can see value in the house prices and the huge growth for rental returns; not only for the rent that tenants are paying but also future house price increases,” Mr Lampard said.
According to September figures from Real Estate Institute Victoria there are 443 privately rented properties in Ararat, 324 in Stawell and 1086 in Horsham.
In Stawell, Monaghans Real Estate property manager Mel Pitts said although the market was always tight, August and September had seen zero vacancies. She also attributed this to increased numbers of workers arriving in the region.
“At the moment we’ve got five (vacancies). The abattoirs are bringing in a lot of workers from elsewhere so they need a lot of rentals,” she said.
Harcourts Horsham principal Mark Clyne said the Horsham rental market was also strong, mostly due to Murra Warra Wind Farm workers looking for accommodation.
“I think we only have one rental property on our books at the moment so it’s very tight, ” he said.
"We’re coming into our peak season and between all the agents in town, there is very little available. People are now starting to look at moving to outlying areas."
He said now was a good time for prospective investors to purchase rentals.
“If anyone has an investment property, there will be no issue finding a tenant. There is a lack of investors buying because the bank has tightened their lending criteria and some people are concerned about negative gearing,” he said.
“As a whole the industry has seen less investors purchasing properties which means there are fewer houses available for people to move into. Even building has slowed up.”