Crazy busy rental market Brisbane

I just put a couple of places up for rent yesterday morning. The amount of responses I had was absolutely ridiculous.

Most of the stuff I have up for rent has now gotten deposits on it with tenants ready to move in straight away.

For example I have one cottage. I've advertised it before, a little later in that particular year. I got maybe one enquiry every couple of days.

This time within 24 hours I would have gotten 20 enquires for this one cottage. I ended up just ignoring enquiries toward the end. 6 inspections today just for that one cottage. First person that saw it took it. Got another place snatch up and deposit paid. And another place taken too pending deposit.

I was stressing hardcore about having so many places go vacant all at the same time. But wow with this response it was like shooting fish in a barrel!

Anyone else having a similar experience right now in Brisbane?

 

I think it depends on the area.

Inner city units/apartments (e.g. New Farm and Teneriffe) have been either not achieving rent increases or going backwards due to oversupply.

We had a great result with a new IP in September 2015 at Kawana Waters on the SS coast near the new hospital. One viewing and had it rented.

 

I've had that happen once. 22 or so parties going through within the 15 minute allotted open time, multiple offers... I took the tenants that offered to pay an extra $20 a week above asking rent. They were good tenants too.

 

That's good to hear Tim. I was getting a little worried about how soft the market was getting with our ppor turning ip in a month. I think the biggest factor in your huge response numbers is the timing. January is peak rental time.. a month earlier or later is a different story..

 

Had an IP settle about 10km north of Brisbane mid Jan. I was told it probably wouldn't rent out till late Jan/early Feb but had it rented within a few days and a good tenant too

 

How are people finding it now? I'm not having any luck in Wishart

 

I have a freshly renovated 3/1/1 house in Bracken Ridge that has been available for rent for 5 weeks and been dropping the price every week. By the time it rents it will probably be at the pre renovated rent.

Have another 4/1/1 in Strathpine thats been available for 3 weeks and had to drop the rent to below what it was previoisly rented for and still no applicants. Not a good time of the year

 

January is the peak month for rentals.. followed by July. You'll find a lot more interest in 3 weeks time. Jan/July are the start of the school semesters

 

Just listed a 3x1x2 highset in Strathpine for $370 p/w with first inspection on Sat. Already received 10 inquiries since Monday. Initial demand seems strong but competitively price IMO. Will keep updated from results on weekend and quality of applicants.

 

I have got 4/2/2 place in Heathwood listed for 6 weeks and no application still. I had to drop the rent again last week.

 

That's sad, @Mon - I hope you get something soon.

My 3/2/2 townhouse about 10km from the Brisbane CBD has just started to be advertised (current tenants move out in mid September) - I hope it's not sitting there for 6 weeks without tenants

 

@KayTea thank you. It is a break lease situation so the previous tenant is still paying the rent but we'll need to get a new tenant real soon.

 

Fortitude valley.
WAS a nice little earner. Now swamped by new units and across road from a building site. Double whammy

Vacant 6 weeks. New lease signed yesterday with 2 weeks rent free.
Lucky offset 100% full

 

We've seeing demand drop in most areas where we operate (Logan, Redlands, Northern Gold Coast, Southern Brisbane and Ipswich) for the past two months, though some pockets seem unaffected. The worst case I've had was a very awkward re-purposed duplex in Kingston on the market for a month, everything else has still rented within two to three weeks maximum.

 

Overall Brisbane has seen rents declining reflecting the overall Qld economy of wages not moving upwards (in fact, my professional colleagues are earning less than ten years ago), the mining industry is still hiccuping along (many Engineers have been retrenched over the past five years from the mines including my partner), the over-supply of apartments inner city (moving to mid-ring too) has a ripple impact on town house prices and houses with supply and demand etc. It does depend on the area, where properties have high demand in relation to supply rents are stable and moving upwards renting quickly, however, many areas are flat. Critical to have strong marketing campaigns and scheduled Open Homes and inspections by private appointments to mobilise quickly as soon as an enquiry comes in - likewise, to ensure the property is well presented. From our experience, facilitating half hour Open Homes translates to great conversion rates to applications as it offers applicants sufficient time to connect with a property, think about how their furniture will fit inside (emotional connection) and importantly offers the PM opportunity to commence screening through conversation.

 

Our 4/2/2 house in North Lakes was vacant for a four week renovation last month and no new photos were taken until the reno was 95% complete - new everything to be visible in all the marketing. We got 2 applications from the very first open, with one party signed up to move in after a total vacancy of five weeks. NL has high vacancies, so I was concerned the vacancy would be a few more weeks before the first application.