Further cementing its position as the most expensive rental market in the country, Canberra reported the strongest growth in rents across the capitals in the first quarter of 2022.
CoreLogic's quarterly rental review, released Wednesday, revealed the median rental value for a Canberra dwelling is now $674 per week.
It follows a quarterly rise of 3.3 per cent and represents an average rent rise of $21 per week. It was the highest growth rate amongst the capitals and surpassed the national rental growth rate, which was 2.6 per cent for the quarter.
Canberra's rents are now 8.7 per cent higher than 12 months ago.
The new report comes as Canberra's median house value reached $1,055,812 at the end of March, while the median unit value is now $609,314.
The capital has both the most expensive rental houses and units, which are typically priced at $743 per week and $560 per week respectively.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said Canberra's sky-high rents aren't likely to ease in the coming months.
"The quarterly growth rate in Canberra rents at 3.3 per cent has accelerated from 2.1 per cent in the December quarter and it's up from 1.5 per cent in September, so it looks like it's just gaining more and more momentum," she said.
"At some point there will be an affordability cap on rental values, so they can't keep going up by these growth rates forever, but I think that the return of overseas migration has really compounded demand in the short term."
Ms Owen said the easing of international travel restrictions will continue to "act as an additional source of demand for rentals" across Canberra and the nation.
Sydney was the second most expensive rental market with median dwelling rents of $621 per week, followed by Darwin at $559 per week and Hobart at $532 per week.
Gross rental yields across the country experienced a small increase over the month of March to 3.23 per cent, after reaching a record low of 3.21 per cent in January and February.
In Canberra, rental yield was 4.8 per cent for units and 3.5 per cent for houses, averaging 3.82 per cent across all dwellings. The city holds the third highest rental yield for dwellings across the capitals, coming in after Darwin (6.04 per cent) and Perth (4.34 per cent).
