Residential vacancies rose nationally over June 2015, at a rate of 2.4%, according to figures released by SQM Research.
The June rate was based on 72,849 vacancies, up from May when vacancies were 71,970.
Although rates remained the same in most capital cities, vacancy rates climbed in Perth, Brisbane and Canberra.
Perth and Canberra had the biggest rise, up 0.2% from May and Perth held the highest vacancy rate at 3.6%.
Year-on-year, vacancy rates have dropped in Canberra, Melbourne, Hobart, and to a lesser extent Sydney, with Melbourne posting the biggest yearly fall in its vacancy rate from 2.7% to 2.3%.
SQM Research’s managing director Louis Christopher said, "Overall vacancy rates were steady over the month of June. The level of vacancy rates (at 2.4%) is marginally favouring tenants. Further evidence of this opinion is that SQM asking rents index effectively remained flat for the month.”
Although SQM Research figures show asking rents have fallen in Darwin by 16.4% for houses and 9.8% for units over the past year.
“We note the very large rent declines recorded in Darwin. With rents falling by 16% over the past 12 months, it is clear market conditions for existing Darwin property investors have deteriorated further. The Darwin housing market is having a severe downturn and I believe it is likely to get worse from here before the market finds a bottom."
Asking rents also fell in Perth, down 6.2% for houses and 4.9% for units from the previous year while Melbourne recorded a rise of 3.1% for houses and 2.2% for units along with modest rises in Sydney and Adelaide.
