Tag: rental occupancy

Renters seek more

The WA Apartment survey – the first of its kind in WA – recently interviewed 113 renters who have shown that while apartments are their preference, they are seeking more in terms of amenities and space.

The survey showed that 39% moved from a house into an apartment and went from 2-3 bedrooms to 1-2 bedrooms.

However when asked what they would choose next, while 73% said they would consider an apartment, their preferences were clearly for 2-3 bedrooms.  This linked to the fact that 20% were using a bedroom as a study/home office.

Convenience was also a major driver when choosing an apartment, with 91% of the renters in walking distance to public transport, 90% to cafes, 86% to a grocery shop and 84% to services such as hairdressers.

Renters also tended to look first for apartments in Perth, East Perth and West Perth before then expanding out to encompass Mt Lawley, South Perth, Highgate, Subiaco, Leederville and Northbridge.  This was because most renters wanted to have a direct route to work, with 86% stating the travel time to work influenced their decision when choosing an apartment.

84% also indicated that safety and security was a major influence in their renting decisions along with being able to lock up and leave, low maintenance and affordability (75% respectively).

However what was also interesting, was that while 44% had no prior experience living in an apartment, 82% would still recommend apartment living.

There is no doubt that apartment living is becoming an evolving trend for renters, but just like owner occupiers – bigger is better!

If you are keen to learn the full results of the WAAA survey (and guarantee your investment success) contact Samantha Reece on 0452 067 117.  You can be assured you won’t find this level of information anywhere else!

 

Rental rates on the rise

So as PropertyESP was looking at various suburbs in Perth, we saw a growing trend of rental occupancy, from the 2001 to 2011 census.

This made us wonder, was this movement confined to just these suburbs, or was it in fact occurring across the whole of Perth?

There is no doubt that we had been looking at modern suburbs such as East Perth, Cockburn Central and Ellenbrook when we discovered this increasing rate of rental occupancy, and as such we thought that the age of a suburb, maybe had some influence over this trend.

So we decided to pull some random suburbs dating from 1950 through to 2000’s to see if there was in fact any indicators just waiting to be revealed. These suburbs included Booragoon, Innaloo, Dianella, Bullcreek, Aubin Grove and Banksia Grove, to name just a few (20 in total).

What we found was that this random sample of suburbs all experienced an increase in rental occupancies from 2001-2011 census (see table 1). Some eras such as the 1980’s and 1990’s jumped from 10% rentals to 16% during this ten year period, while the majority averaged 3-4% growth.

rental increases

Table 1

Could it be possible that these 1980/90’s homes had been vacated by their baby boomer owners as they upgraded, and as such were now being treated as an investment?

In conjunction, with Y Gen being somewhat transient, this was another possible contributor for the increasing rental occupancies across the board.

And of course there are hotspots, such as South Perth, where the rental market represents a much larger proportion ie 46% and with strong development occurring in that locale, I believe this number will only grow.

But one thing is for certain, rental occupancy is on the rise and this shows once again that the dynamics of Perth’s property cycle is continuing to evolve and that is a good thing.

PropertyESP is a company that likes to get into the nitty gritty of sales data. If you are wanting a full and detailed snapshot of sales for an area, then contact PropertyESP today to find out more!