Across the lower north shore, rental budgets and activity are increasing. We see it in our property portal analytics and in the numbers of renters attending inspections. There’s no shortage of renters, but there’s also an extreme oversupply of rental properties. If your investment property isn’t marketed strategically, you’ll find it soon becomes stale.
An influx of former Airbnb properties and a mass exodus out of one-bedders has created an oversupply of rentals in our market. As a result, capturing the renter’s attention in the first two weeks of a marketing campaign with vibrant, fresh imagery is becoming essential to winning the hearts of enough tenants to create competition and urgency in order to secure a great candidate.
Changing renter behaviour requires a change in marketing strategy. We’ve implemented a weekly strategy meeting with our investors who have vacant investments, and at that meeting we organise fresh, new photos of the property, revise copy and analyse the effectiveness of the channels we’re marketing through.
People don’t remember addresses but they do remember photos, so staying visually fresh is a non-negotiable. The market quickly shelves properties that aren’t new to the portals or have been sitting idly online with weeks’ old photography. It’s like they get a smell about them.
Newspaper headlines about Sydney rental marketing flopping do not apply in our market. In fact, we’ve seen an overall increase in prices; a stark contrast to the dire stories being portrayed elsewhere.
The return of expats is exacerbating the shortages of rentals in highly desirable locations. At the same time, locals are not actively vacating the area. We’re asking prospective tenants of luxury properties to share their plans with us early, for example even as early as the moment they’re seeking development approval for construction, or when they decide they will return to Australia so that we have ample time to source an appropriate rental home for them for the requisite period.
Prestige apartments – those renting for upwards of $3500 per week and beautiful big homes asking $4000+ – are renting quickly and easily. The shortage of stock is a result of the trend towards renovating (requiring a rental house while construction is underway) and extended settlement periods, creating an increased need for luxury rentals in between selling and buying.
Everyone’s upgrading these days. Tenants are opting for additional bedrooms in apartments, and residents of townhouses are relocating to houses. Subsequently, the hardest part of the market to rent out currently is the once-popular one-bedroom and studio sector. There’s now a 15 per cent reduction in prices for these apartments across the board and significant numbers of vacancies.
Tenants of smaller apartments are simply leaving in droves. After all, they are spending more time working from home, so they want more space, and they can’t travel overseas, so they have more disposable income to throw at their living expenses. As a result, the two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartment market is incredibly competitive. Particularly those with balconies and ample sunlight.
Contact Michelle to discuss your investment property or if you would like a rental appraisal.
Michelle Lucas (Patterson)
Head of Property Management – New Business
michelle.lucas@raywhite.com
0403 830 538
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