Geraldton rent rises draw comparisons to mining boom according to experts

A property expert has likened Geraldton’s rental price surge to those seen across WA during the mining boom, after a new report showed a 21 per cent rise in the past year.

Domain’s rental report for the March quarter recorded Geraldton having a 21 per cent increase in the median weekly house rent price — from $388 in March 2023 to $470 in March 2024 — which was the second-highest rise across the country.

Karratha in the Pilbara had the largest growth in Australia, recording a 29 per cent increase.

Domain research and economics chief Nicola Powell said the current situation was due to a reversal of the long-time trends in WA.

“What has happened is a change in demographic shifts, there’s a positive flow of people moving from other States and Territories into WA,” she said.

“That’s a flip reverse of many years of a drain of people leaving WA, which hasn’t happened in recent times.

“It’s reminiscent of mining boom times where we had strong population growth from overseas, interstate, pressure on housing demand which was coming out in higher prices and extremely tight rental markets.”

Geraldton’s real estate agents have felt the pressure of a tight market, which has seen the vacancy rate drop below one per cent at times.

Geraldton Property Team principal licensee Mairi Quinn put it down to the nature of the market.

“It’s the supply and demand that has caused this, we do have a lot of people wanting to rent and not a great deal of stock,” she said.

“You’re looking at anything from about eight applicants and upwards on a nice property.”

Ms Quinn has been working for 30 years in real estate in Geraldton and said she had seen a situation like this in the past, when she was a property manager.

“I can remember I felt quite sad, because people were in tears desperately trying to get properties,” Ms Quinn said.

“It’s such a difficult time and it’s very hard and unfair for people just now.

“It’s not us putting the prices up, it’s the market.”

Despite the rental climate, Dr Powell predicted an easing of rent price increases in 2024.

She said while some areas may see prices fall, she thought WA would continue to see an increase, but not as significant as it has been.

“WA really has been the tall poppy, it continues to perform quite strongly,” Dr Powell said.

“The number of potential renters, each rental listing has been declining annually across our capital cities.

“Demand is starting to ease relative to supply compared to what we were seeing during the peak in 2022-23.”

Dr Powell said intervention, such as government first-homebuyer schemes and rate cuts, would lower rental prices by adding more homeowners to the market.

She said other factors were also at play, including population growth and international student visa numbers easing.

However, Ms Quinn was less hopeful for renters.

“I can’t see change happening anytime soon because where are we going to get an influx of houses from?” she said.