Where Investor Rentals Are Returning
Where investor-purchased homes are returning to the rental pool
Sampled rental listings across Australia where the property had sold within the prior 18 months — a proxy for newly-acquired investment dwellings being offered for rent. Year-on-year change by Statistical Area Level 4 (88 regions).
National change
Region detail
Hover or tap a region to see year-on-year change.
Legend (% change)
Investors quietly reshuffle the deck
Rental stock from recent investor purchases is surging in Tasmania, Victoria and the Top End — and vanishing across Perth, Queensland and regional WA. A national sample of 33,115 rental listings points to a two-speed market that has flipped on its axis.
A new read on investor activity from FOUNDIT's New Rental Index — which tracks sampled rental listings where the property was sold within the prior 18 months — shows the volume of newly investor-held rentals captured in the Q1 sample fell 7.5% year-on-year, from 17,203 sampled listings in Q1 2025 to 15,913 in Q1 2026.
The sample is large but not exhaustive of the rental market, which is precisely why the period-on-period percentage change at GCCA and SA4 level — rather than raw counts — is the headline. Comparing like sample to like sample, a year apart, surfaces where investor-sourced rental supply is genuinely expanding or thinning.
The two-speed market is back — and it's flipped
Greater Perth's sample fell 35.8% year-on-year, the steepest of any capital. Rest of WA dropped 29.3%. Queensland followed, with Rest of Qld down 23.1% and Greater Brisbane off 21.7%. Greater Sydney softened 8.4% and Greater Adelaide 7.6%.
At the other end, Tasmania ran the opposite playbook. Rest of Tas. doubled (+100.6%), Greater Hobart rose 53.8%, Greater Darwin lifted 50.0%. Greater Melbourne — the only mainland east-coast capital in positive territory — gained 8.2%, with regional Victoria up 27.3%.
Top movers at the SA4 level
Of 80 SA4 markets with a workable sample (≥50 listings in either period), 53 went backwards and 27 grew. The regional lens sharpens the picture considerably: the swings at the SA4 level are far wider than the aggregated capital-city numbers suggest.
- West and North West TAS+105.4%
- Latrobe – Gippsland VIC+103.3%
- Launceston and North East TAS+98.0%
- Hobart TAS+53.8%
- Darwin NT+50.0%
- Mid North Coast NSW+34.4%
- Shepparton VIC+32.2%
- Central West NSW+32.2%
- Melbourne – West VIC+28.7%
- Melbourne – North West VIC+25.0%
- WA Outback (North) WA−45.3%
- SA Outback SA−45.2%
- Perth – Inner WA−44.7%
- Townsville QLD−43.6%
- Perth – South East WA−41.2%
- Mandurah WA−40.0%
- Toowoomba QLD−36.7%
- Cairns QLD−36.4%
- Perth – North West WA−36.1%
- Brisbane Inner City QLD−31.1%
What it means for agents
Because this is a sampled measure, the reliable signal is the direction and magnitude of change between matched quarters — not the absolute count. Read that way, the index is a leading indicator of where investor-owned stock is accumulating in the rental pool versus where it is being withdrawn as existing investors sell to owner-occupiers without being replaced.
For sales agents
The signal points to where investor demand is rebuilding from a low base. The SA4s topping the increases list are early indicators of returning investor activity, ahead of broader market recognition.
For property managers
It flags where new-stock supply is expanding fastest — a precursor to vacancy and rent pressure — and where it is contracting toward scarcity, supporting rent growth.