No end in sight to Douglas rental crisis
HIGH RENTS
While the current market for available rental properties in Douglas has improved – any signs on the horizon for new housing stock to fill the gaps and relieve the longer term rental crisis is practically non-existent.
In an interview with Newsport, local property expert Steve Doble of Ray White said that on the market this week there were 15 houses and 29 apartments, units or townhouses advertised for rent.
“The supply has without any doubt, improved,” Mr Doble said. “In 2022, I don’t recall there being any month where there were double figures of properties available so in other words, it was nine or less for the whole year.”
But while the supply of rentals might look healthy now, the underlying issue is the rising costs of rentals and the lowering of affordability.
The average rent for a three-bedroom house is around $675 per week, while a unit rental averages $535. Of course, many homes in Port Douglas especially – both houses and units – are well above that.
“The reason that the rentals went up so significantly was because during that two to three years of COVID effects, around a third or more of all former rental properties in the Douglas Shire sold to owner-occupiers,” Mr Doble said.
That old adage – supply and demand
Supply and demand has changed dramatically in recent years.
“Going back 14 years ago when I started, there were almost 1200 properties for sale in the Douglas Shire. Today, there’s 239.”
Mr Doble believes to help relieve the longer-term rental crisis, there’s a great need for more medium-density housing in the Shire, although there does not appear to be enough support for that type of planning from Council.
For investors, houses have simply become too expensive, both to buy and to build.
“Apartments, units, townhouses, villas, duplexes – that’s where the shortage broadly is,” he said.
He said why he believes medium-density living is a better option is that, for instance, to build a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home costs around $600,000.
Blocks of land near Port Douglas – the few that are still available – have been selling for around $330K.
“You add your $600-thousand for your house, you’re talking around a million dollars, and for that to be a worthwhile investment, you need to be renting it for $1100 to $1200 a week. We definitely need more medium-density options.”
Local homeowners priced out?
There have been concerns since when the pandemic started, of local residents being ‘priced out’ of their own area.
Mr Doble, for one, said there is realistically not enough land available in the region to build on, so when the rare releases do come along, the costs are prohibitive for most local people.
“When we talk about all those people who broadly have come up from the south to get away from a more populated area to a more regional area as a result of COVID, they’re coming out of marketplaces where this looks cheap up here.”
