The vacancy rate is an indicator used by investors to check on the rental demand in an area and is seen as a representation of how many properties are vacant or empty in an area, this is usually shown as a percentage.
When looking at percentages some typical guidelines are used when trying to understand what they mean.
- Below 2% is considered a tight rental market and termed a landlords market
- 3% is the balance point between tenants and landlords
- Over 3% is considered a tenants market
Investors do need to delve deeper into these rates as many factors can be at play.
In our local market as at February 2015 the vacancy rates were as follows:
Botany 2.8%
Alexandria 2.4%
Zetland / Waterloo 1.3%
Mascot 4.1%
Pagewood 1.6%
Kingsford 1.6%
Kensington 2.2%
Rosebery / Eastlakes 1.1%
Source SQM Research
Even our local market has many factors to be considered for instance there is a number of new developments that have just been completed that tend to all go onto the rental market at the same time which has a direct impact on the rate.