Demand Exceeding Supply in Gladstone Rental Market

The Gladstone Rental Market is ending on a higher note at the end of a rather tumultuous decade, which has been full of hills and hollows.

Ray White Gladstone Co-Director, John Fieldus, stated “We are experiencing levels of demand from tenants that we have not seen since 2012, and our office has held vacancy rates at below 1% since May this year, we’re virtually a full house”.

The news is not as positive for tenants, as demand for rental properties has reached astonishing levels and inevitably tenants more often than not are missing out on the property they have set their hearts on.

Mr Fieldus added “In October we showed 458 groups of prospective tenants through our vacant properties, and we leased 32 properties, which is virtually everything we had on offer”.

The situation has been brought about by strong market conditions, a re-newed confidence in Gladstone, better employment prospects, and for the moment, some of the most affordable rental rates in the country.

Mr Fieldus observed that “the rental market has in many ways reached critical mass in terms of supply, and inevitably rental rates have continued increasing back to normality throughout 2019, however there is still some way to go in that space”.

For the year 2019 to date, the Ray White Gladstone office has taken 11,693 rental enquiries, undertaken 2,032 rental inspections, leased 461 properties, and renewed 592 leases.   It has been the agency’s strongest year based upon these numbers.

Mr Fieldus stated that “There is no doubt we are going to experience extreme rental shortages in 2020 and unless there are new properties to enter the marketplace, either through investment or building, we will see critical shortages in terms of supply become the norm, and with that demand rental rates will naturally escalate”.