Signs rental crisis is easing as vacancy rates nudge upwards in Australia’s major cities

The vacancy rate in Sydney has risen 0.28 percentage points to 1.73%, the largest improvement among Australia’s major cities on a quarterly basis. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Australia’s rental crisis is showing modest signs of easing, with vacancy rates in the major cities improving slightly, but from levels that remain about half of pre-Covid levels, according to data group PropTrack.

Rental vacancy rates nationally increased 0.02 percentage points to 1.45% last month, while those in capital cities edged 0.03 percentage points higher to 1.42%. Both were just shy of half the rates in March 2020.