Have had 1 year old apartment advertised on RE.com.au and Gumtree for nearly 4 weeks now. I have held biweekly opens. Usually only one person or one couple turn up for the weekend inspection. There are 17 other apartments in the Bowden area up for rent and as far as I can tell only one of them has leased. Unfortunately my tenant wanted to move to a bigger house, just as a new apartment block was released for rent. Is it oversupply, the time of year in Adelaide or the fact mine is $400 and the others are between 360 and 385, although some of these started at $400? Even the "includes electricity and water" hasn't pulled anyone in. One couple told me they had turned up for an inspection for a different apartment in the same building earlier but the Agent didn't show.
Start by dropping your rent... obviously your price is not competitive if others are now at $360 and $385 and they were originally at $400 as well. There's no use in it sitting vacant with no tenant in sight. A slightly reduced income is much better than no income at all. You can always put the rent back up if the market improves, but with the extra supply and few tenants looking, it looks like a tough ask.
You need to drop your rent by quite a bit by the looks of it. Would you/do you allow pets? That could give you an advantage. Cheers Jamie
What is your PM telling you or are you self managing? Sounds like you are $30pw over market if the others are comparable. I have seen some shocker overpriced rentals of late... whether the PM's are not in tune with the market or are quoting high rent figures to get new listings/clients onboard who knows.... saw one in Salisbury area the other day which was $40pw over priced, and sales agents quoting rental figures which were nowhere near realistic to try to attract investors
Bowden is full of lots of new apartments. You need to differentiate yourself from the others by either : - having a feature they don't have, or - being cheaper than those, or - having a bigger tenant database to get it out to
@eskander - thank you. Hatch for new appartments in Bowden furniture can work well. It attracts a niche market which is outside of normal competition. It needs to be done in a specific way, I think I wrote something about it on this forum. The price was reasonable a few years ago, things are a little slower in Adelaide. We are still getting them leased but us agents have to actually work now to achieve that result.
Why does it include power and water? Why are you chasing $400 if everyone else is $360 etc? To me it sounds like it's overpriced if the others at $360 etc also include power and water. If they don't then advertise at $360 and in the listing mention there is a package deal available for $400 that includes power and water
Apartments in my block have separate meterage for water use but not electricity, which is worked out on the size of the apartments etc and billed accordingly. The body corp bills me directly for water and electricity, they cant bill tenants as they are not provider companies. It's just easier to include in rent so i don't have to chase up departed tenants for their share when I get billed. The BC gets power at bulk price. The other apartments don't include this in their ads so I guess the advertised rent is just rent. My apartment is also not looking onto the apartments across from it, so the balcony is private and not likely to lose it. As the Bowden development progresses it is becoming more evident from the streetscape already there that unless on the edge, your view will be of other people's balconies or apartment blocks. My apartment is also 2 storey, so feels more like a small house, the other available rentals are not. I have already put in a table and stools for the kitchen area and a rug to show the living room area as Xenia is right , apartment furnishing has to be clever to maximise without diminishing space. I self manage at the moment as i have been less than impressed with what I have seen of agents managing apartments here, eg not turning up for opens, having opens at weird times when working people will be at work and also charging owners for inspections which don't happen.
Pretty much like everyone else has said it is due to price. If you had 10 people through each week it could be something else but at least you are closer to market rate. Drop the price and meet the market, I know a 4 unit apartment block in Brisbane that has rent from 340-385 and they are all 2 bed units same finish. The 385 is the one that has been there the longest but with all the new units coming online the 340 was the most recent one to be rented (started asking 355 iirc).
Maybe get a couple of agents in to let you know what they reckon. You should be able to find a decent one.
So I am going to reduce the rent after all your advice and looking at local competition. Would you decrease but keep ad up or "rest" it for a week and then readvertising with lower price?
Or drop it halfway and give 1 week rent free. You will recoup difference in couple of months and then have higher rent for rest of lease plus higher rent base to increase from
I could never work out why there are so many apartments built at Bowden. Yes it is close to Adelaide but it is no North Adelaide. With that many apartments available at Bowden for rent the only way to get a tenant is to drop the price unfortunately. If all else fails, just move in and live there.
