Geraldton’s rental situation remains bleak despite the vacancy rate doubling last month

Geraldton’s rental market showed signs of life last month, however, one local real estate agent warns it could be a false hope for those still struggling to find a property. Geraldton’s rental vacancy rate more than doubled from July (1.0 per cent) to August (2.2 per cent) according to data from REIWA. Typically, a vacancy rate between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent represents a balanced market. There are currently 29 properties available for rent in Geraldton on REIWA.com. Ray White Geraldton’s Henry Vantiel said they had not seen an improvement in the rental market as shown by the data. “I don’t know where that’s come from because we have nothing at all. We have less rentals now then we’ve ever had. So that might just be an anomaly in the figures,” he said. “There’s no easing of that rental situation at all, as far as our office is concerned.” Activewest Real Estate’s Phil Sorgiovanni said it was still very tight for rental accommodation despite the vacancy rate doubling. “We have seen a slight easing in demand but it remains with multiple applications on those properties that are available — just not as many,” he said. “It is easy to say that the figure has doubled and that sounds like a lot but the reality is that when you break it down to an individual requirements, location etc the vacancy rate is a lot lower.” Of the 29 properties available for rent in Geraldton, only 20 are houses while of that figure only 10 have four bedrooms. “From there it gets even more difficult if your a family trying to match with a school zone for example,” Mr Sorgiovanni said. “Add to the reality of the breakdown in the numbers, the current rental prices and it remains a battle for those requiring accommodation.” Mr Sorgiovanni said if the existing worker shortages could not be filled locally, new people would have to move to town, requiring further accommodation. “While this is great for Geraldton and the Mid West — I don’t believe we currently have the capacity to accommodate them within a housing capacity, but also from a services aspect it is time the Government injected some capital investment into the Mid West to allow growth,” he said.