There is further evidence Australia's ongoing housing crisis is deepening. The national vacancy rate has hit a record low of 0.7 per cent, according to Domain. In Perth and Adelaide, it is as low as 0.3 per cent.
There is further evidence Australia's ongoing housing crisis is deepening.
The national vacancy rate has hit a record low of 0.7 per cent, according to Domain.
In Perth and Adelaide, it is as low as 0.3 per cent.
"It's challenging and I think 0.3 per cent (vacancy rate), that's needle in a haystack type stuff," chief of research and economics at Domain Nicola Powell said.
Domain's February Vacancy Rates Report shows it's hard going for renters right across the country.
"And we've got some of our capital cities with much more extreme conditions, versus other cities that are actually better conditions for tenants — still technically a landlords market — but a higher vacancy rate in Canberra and Darwin sitting at 1.3 per cent."
Ms Powell said record low vacancy rates are being driven by ongoing factors like rapid population growth and rising property prices, leaving more renters stuck in the rental market.
But perhaps the biggest problem is a shortage of supply, and that sluggishness has been brought into sharp focus by the latest Bureau of Statistics building approvals data.
Building approvals fell a further 1 per cent in January, after falling 10.1 per cent in December.
CoreLogic's head of research Tim Lawless said the problem is construction companies are reluctant to build because they can't turn a profit.
"The biggest one clearly is this significant surge in construction costs we've seen through the pandemic, and even though we aren't seeing construction costs rise anywhere near as quickly as they used to be ... they are rising," Mr Lawless said.
"They're not going backwards.
"And this is where some of the challenges come for the building sector, is actually having a feasible development in place that's going to deliver some level of a profit margin is notoriously difficult now."
The problem seems to be most acute in the construction of detached homes where building approvals slid 9.9 per cent in January to an 11.5-year low.
"Add to that we're still seeing very tight labour capacity restraints in the building sector," Mr Lawless said.
"Materials costs are still very high as well. So you can see where some of this pain is coming from. And it doesn't look like it's turning around at all at the moment.
"And it's hard to see it turning around any time soon to be honest," Mr Lawless said.
Housing crisis deepening
The government has made building more homes a policy priority, committing to build 1.2 million new homes over five years.
Ms Powell says speeding up the approvals process at the council level would help achieve this target.
"And I think you know that starts at the grassroots level around reducing red tape," she said.
"It's about providing shovel-ready land at affordable prices for developers to actually be able to — you know, for the sums to stack up for developers to be able to come and actually provide that level of supply."
Director of Sky Planning Melissa Neighbour said loosening "planning controls", or what's allowed to be built on any given site, at the local council level, is key to boosting the housing supply.
"And that's a reality of developing," Ms Neighbour said,
"We need to be able to have more planning approvals in the system to allow more sites to stack up. If we are turning off the tap at the very top of the funnel, which is the planning controls, then we are already at a loss."
And for those hopeful renters looking for at least something to cling onto, Domain data shows, on a national scale, the average views per rental listing continued to decrease in February.
While it may mean that Australians are sleeping rough, on the flip side, Ms Powell said others are choosing to stay at home to save up for a house of their own.
"You know it's challenging for a tenant wanting to become a first home buyer," Ms Powell said.
"You can understand why people are moving back in with mum and dad.
"So it showcases that biting of affordability constraints is certainly there.
"And people are cost-cutting to be able to have shelter or to be able to squirrel away and save to actually buy a home."
But it also means, despite the lack of supply, fewer people are inspecting properties which reduces the competition among renters for existing places.