Suburbtrends
February 2026 — Base: Feb 2025 = 100
Vacancy Index
Rental market pressure across 88 SA4 regions. Below 100 = tightening. Above 100 = loosening.
1×
National Houses
SVI
Why This Matters
Vacancy rates don't predict rents. Ours do.
01
Vacancy Rates Are a Broken Signal
The industry standard vacancy rate tells you how many properties are empty — but statistically, it predicts nothing about where rents are heading. We tested it. Every horizon, every geography. No significance. The metric everyone relies on doesn't actually work.
p > 0.05
Vacancy Rate vs Future Rents
02
It's Not How Many — It's Where They Sit
The SVI decomposes vacancies by rent tier within each SA3. When premium-tier vacancies shift, rents follow — 1 to 6 months forward, all statistically significant. This single decomposition delivers 48× more explanatory power than the aggregate vacancy rate.
48×
More R² Than Vacancy Rate
03
See Rent Pressure Before It Arrives
The SVI is significant at predicting rents 1 to 6 months forward across 331 SA3 areas. Whether you manage a portfolio, advise buyers, write policy or negotiate a lease — you see the direction before the market prices it in.
Monthly
Data Refresh Cycle
Who This Is For
Built for people who price rental risk
Four audiences. One forward-looking signal. Whether you manage a portfolio, underwrite a loan, acquire for a client or develop at scale — the SVI tells you where rents are heading before the market catches up.
Property Managers
Set rents with evidence, not guesswork. The SVI shows whether your SA3 is tightening or loosening — and the Rent Review Forecast tells you what 12-month lease renewals are likely to land at, 1 to 3 months before they're due. Advise landlords with a number, not a feeling.
Rent reviews
Lease renewals
Landlord reporting
Portfolio strategy
Investors & Buyers Agents
A tightening SA3 means rental yield is compressing upward. A loosening one means incoming supply is diluting returns. The SVI gives you a forward rent signal at the area level — so you can identify markets where income growth is building before prices adjust.
Yield analysis
Area selection
Due diligence
Client advisory
Mortgage Lenders & Institutions
Underwrite rental income with a leading indicator, not a lagging one. The SVI provides SA3-level rent direction signals that can stress-test portfolio exposure, validate serviceability assumptions and flag markets where rental income risk is building — months ahead of conventional metrics.
Credit risk
Portfolio stress testing
Serviceability
Regulatory reporting
BTR Operators
Build-to-Rent revenue models live and die on rent assumptions. The SVI gives you SA3-level market pressure data to forecast achievable rents, benchmark against competing stock by price tier, and identify corridors where tightening conditions support premium positioning at scale.
Revenue forecasting
Site selection
Rent benchmarking
Asset management
Ready?
Stop guessing. Start pricing with evidence.
Get the full SVI dataset across 88 SA4 regions, 331 SA3 areas and 2,314 SA2 suburbs. Updated monthly. Houses and units. Forward rent signals included. Talk directly to Kent.
Talk to Kent →
Direct email. No sales team.
✓ Monthly data refresh
✓ No lock-in contract
✓ SA3 + SA2 granularity
✓ Rent Review Forecast included
