In good news for tenants, Canberra rents have declined further over the third quarter, defying trends seen elsewhere in the country.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Rent prices across all Canberra property types fell 0.9 per cent in the three months to the end of September, CoreLogic's latest quarterly rental review found.
The decline was led by a 1.2 per cent fall in house rents over the quarter, while unit rents fell a much more modest 0.3 per cent.
Canberra rents are now 3 per cent lower than this time last year.
Though it's not all good news, as Canberra has maintained its position as the second most expensive capital city behind Sydney.
The median weekly rent is now $686 for Canberra houses and $569 for units.
Canberra continues to defy upward trend
Canberra was one of just two capital cities to record a drop in rents over the three months to September. The other was Hobart, which recorded a decline of 2.7 per cent.
The remaining capital cities all recorded quarterly and yearly rent increases, though the pace of growth was slowing, CoreLogic economist and report author Kaytlin Ezzy said.
"Worsening affordability continues to be a significant factor placing downward pressure on the pace of rental growth in recent months," Ms Ezzy said.
Looking at the year-on-year change, Canberra house rents fell 4.1 per cent and unit rents fell just 0.3 per cent.
Perth saw the largest increase in house rents for the 12 months to September, up 12.7 per cent, followed by Melbourne, up 11.3 per cent.
Canberra also bucked a national trend when it came to vacancy rates, the report found.
The vacancy rate across all Canberra property types was 1.8 per cent, up from 1.4 per cent one year ago.
Meanwhile vacancy rates fell to new record lows across both the combined capitals (1 per cent vacancy) and combined regional markets (1.2 per cent vacancy).
Most affordable suburbs for renters
The report also outlined the most affordable suburbs for renters in Canberra.
Unsurprisingly, all but three suburbs were listed for their unit rents.
Lyons topped the list with a median weekly rent of $468, down by 3.3 per cent over the past year.
Chifley came in as the second-most affordable suburb with a median weekly rent of $494, followed by Hawker ($501 per week) and Mawson ($528 per week).
Of the 30 most affordable suburbs, Hawker had the highest vacancy rate of 4.5 per cent.
Higgins, Scullin and Page were the only suburbs listed for their house rents, coming in with weekly rents just under $600.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
![Canberra rents declined in the third quarter of 2023. Picture by Elesa Kurtz Canberra rents declined in the third quarter of 2023. Picture by Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/146508744/6fa17e82-4f47-471d-8953-153ee06ed8b8.jpg/r0_130_4890_2879_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)