Rents continued to grow solidly across all property types in all capital cities in Australia, a new report shows.
RP Data revealed that on average, rents jumped by $41/week for houses and $35/week for units through 2008 - indicating a very strong rental growth.
Darwin outperformed the other capital cities with rents for houses jumping by $70/week or 18%. Units did even better with a $60/week increase in rent or 19%.
"Although Darwin's property values recorded the greatest increase through 2009, it is interesting to note that the city maintains the country's best rental yields at 6.25% for houses and 6.44% for units," noted Cameron Kusher, senior analyst with RP Data.
Sydney also staged a strong gain with an increase of 18% or $70/week over the year while unit rents climbed by 14% or $50.
Melbourne saw house rents rising by 17% or $50 per week, and units increasing by 14% or $40 per week.
In contrast, median rents for houses in Canberra only increased by 4% or $15 per week and units by 6% or $20 per week. Adelaide also underperformed with just a 5% increase or $15 on median rents for houses and units by 6%, or $10.
A leading factor to rental demand increase is no doubt Australia's record pace population growth, which has continued recently to reach a 40 year high, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.