Adelaide rents have climbed more than four per cent in the first three months of the year – twice as much as the national increase.
Latest PropTrack figures show the median advertised rent for an Adelaide property reached $470 per week after climbing 4.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2023.
It was more than double the 2 per cent rise recorded across the country, taking the national median to $500 per week, and slightly up on than the 4 per cent across all the capitals.
Adelaide recorded the largest quarterly increase behind Perth, where the median rose 8.7 per cent to $500 per week.
Meanwhile, rents surged 13.3 per cent over the past year – the second highest annual increase behind Brisbane’s 15.6 per cent.
House rents were up 4.2 per cent over the quarter to a $500 per week median, while units remained unchanged at $400 per week.
Turner Real Estate chief executive Emma Slape said while rental demand traditionally peaked in the first quarter of the year, the market wasn’t likely to change much any time soon.
“We would expect to see the demand lessen a little but until we see that increase in stock, we’re not going to see movement in the vacancy rate at all,” she said.
“We’re just not seeing an increase in stock, which is the fundamental supply chain issue.”
Ms Slape said most landlords were struggling with cost of living pressures, including interest rate rises, as much as everyone else so were trying to help tenants as much as they could.
“The majority of landlords are very reasonable,” she said.
“There are definitely a lot of conversations about tenant retention and costs as well as what a property would fetch.
“We do need to be mindful that we need them in the market more than ever.”
PropTrack senior economist and report author Paul Ryan said nationally rents were up 11 per cent over the past year, which was the fastest rate of growth since well before the pandemic started.
He didn’t see an end to the rises any time soon.
“With rental market conditions extremely tight, we expect rental prices will continue to climb,” he said.
“This is particularly the case in capital cities, where rent increases have not yet eased since accelerating in early 2022.
“In the regions, rent growth has slowed after significant rent increases throughout the pandemic.”