Stable vacancies in Sydney
Sydney vacancy rates remained stable in April 2015 according to the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW) media release.
Inner Sydney vacancy rates tightened from 1.9 per cent to 1.7 per cent.
And middle ring Sydney suburbs also saw vacancy rates tighten from 2.3 per cent to 2.1 per cent.
This was offset by an increase in vacancy rates on the outer from 1.7 per cent to 2.0 percent.
Generally, the rental market remains fairly tight in Sydney.
As you can see above I haven't quite gotten access to the full data series yet, but I'm working on it (Central Coast and Albury data for recent months are notable absences).
Generally vacancy rates have also tight on the south coast, such as in Wollongong, although vacancies rose 0.8 per cent in the month to 1.8 percent.
There was also a 0.3 per cent increase in the Illawarra to a still very tight 1.3 per cent.
Newcastle and Hunter
There was a large spike in vacancy rates in Newcastle (from 3.4 per cent to 4.6 per cent).
Similarly the Hunter saw a rise from 3.1 per cent to 3.9 per cent.
This reflects job cuts in the region, partly related to coal mining, which have seen unemployment rates heading north of 8 per cent.
