Capital city rental pressure — March 2026

Suburbtrends Vacancy Index

Capital city rental pressure — March 2026

SVI base: March 2025 = 100 · Below 100 = tightened · Above 100 = loosened

Methodology

We count what's available. That's it.

01

Sample the rental market

Using a rolling 3-month sample, we identify houses and units advertised as available immediately — down to the local suburb level, across every SA2 in Australia.

02

Express as a share of advertised stock

Properties available immediately are counted as vacant and expressed as a percentage of total advertised rentals in that area. Both sides of the equation come from the same observed sample — no Census estimates, no bond data, no dwelling stock assumptions.

03

Index to 12 months ago

The SVI compares this month's vacancy to the same period last year. Below 100 means the market has tightened. Above 100 means it's loosened. The direction tells you where rents are heading.

Why this approach? Traditional vacancy rates divide a small count of vacant listings by a large estimate of total dwelling stock — producing headline figures that look extremely low and can exaggerate tightness. We used to calculate vacancy that way ourselves, and found we couldn't rely on it. By keeping both numerator and denominator inside the same advertised sample, we get a vacancy rate that behaves as a reliable statistical measure — and one we can demonstrate actually predicts rent movements.

Rolling 3-month sample SA2 suburb depth 2,473 SA2s nationally Observed data — no modelling

National SVI houses

98.8

Vacancy 3.66% · MoM +0.5

National SVI units

98.9

Vacancy 3.57% · MoM +0.6

12-month direction

Tightening

Both dwelling types tighter than March 2025

ACT Strong tightening

Houses

84.2

Vacancy 15.38%

MoM +2.4

Units

94.6

Vacancy 16.75%

MoM +2.5

Vacancy rate

House

15.4%

Unit

16.8%

Lowest SVI of any capital — absorbing stock fast from a deeply oversupplied base. Vacancy still very elevated in absolute terms.

Greater Hobart Tightening

Houses

97.9

Vacancy 9.61%

MoM +1.6

Units

90.6

Vacancy 7.49%

MoM +3.0

Vacancy rate

House

9.6%

Unit

7.5%

Unit SVI of 90.6 signals strong tightening. MoM +3.0 is the largest monthly swing in the dataset — volatile, small market.

Greater Sydney Tightening

Houses

98.2

Vacancy 3.37%

MoM +0.6

Units

98.3

Vacancy 3.72%

MoM +0.6

Vacancy rate

House

3.4%

Unit

3.7%

Greater Darwin Tightening

Houses

96.2

Vacancy 7.62%

MoM +0.6

Units

97.3

Vacancy 8.37%

MoM +0.7

Vacancy rate

House

7.6%

Unit

8.4%

Greater Adelaide Tightening (houses)

Houses

96.9

Vacancy 9.66%

MoM +1.5

Units

101.9

Vacancy 10.98%

MoM +1.7

Vacancy rate

House

9.7%

Unit

11.0%

Split signal — houses tightening (96.9) but units loosened past the base (101.9). Only capital with a dwelling-type divergence across the 100 line.

Greater Perth Tightening

Houses

99.5

Vacancy 6.05%

MoM +0.6

Units

98.1

Vacancy 5.14%

MoM −0.6

Vacancy rate

House

6.1%

Unit

5.1%

Unit MoM of −0.6 is the only negative reading across all capital GCCSAs — Perth units actively tightening month-on-month.

Greater Melbourne Near base

Houses

99.4

Vacancy 1.95%

MoM +0.2

Units

99.7

Vacancy 1.62%

MoM +0.3

Vacancy rate

House

2.0%

Unit

1.6%

SVI near 100 but vacancy among the lowest nationally. Melbourne was already tight — and has stayed there.

Greater Brisbane Near base

Houses

99.8

Vacancy 1.79%

MoM +0.5

Units

99.4

Vacancy 1.40%

MoM +0.3

Vacancy rate

House

1.8%

Unit

1.4%

Lowest unit vacancy of any capital at 1.4%. SVI near base means Brisbane was already tight a year ago — and has stayed there.

SVI direction Tightening (<98) Near base (98–102) National avg vacancy

Source: Suburbtrends Vacancy Index · March 2026 · Base: March 2025 = 100
SVI < 100 = market tightened over past 12 months · SVI > 100 = market loosened · MoM = monthly index movement

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