Queensland Rental Market

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) recently released its Residential Vacancy Rate Report for the December quarter 2023, which shows that the market continues to remain very tight, with a distinct undersupply of rental properties across all regions of Queensland.

The statewide vacancy rate for Queensland fell slightly to 0.9% for the quarter. According to the REIQ, most markets remained well within what the REIQ classifies as tight (vacancy rates of up to 2.5%), with over half at 1% or below.

Key Findings:

• Cook Shire in the north and Goondiwindi Shire in the south recorded a zero percent vacancy rate, yes that was 0%. As a comparison, in March 2019, they both had a 5.9% vacancy rate.
• The highest vacancy rate for LGA’s across Queensland was in Mt Isa at 2.7%. The closure by Glencore of their copper mine in 2025 may adversely impact vacancy rates as well.
• In the larger regional centres, most areas have a vacancy rate of 1% or lower with Gladstone at 1.1%, Townsville 1%, Rockhampton 0.9%, Toowoomba 0.7%, Mackay 0.6%, Cairns 0.9%, Bundaberg 0.9% and Hervey Bay 0.8%.
• In the major tourism areas of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast it is the same story of very tight vacancy rates. Sunshine Coast sits at 0.8% with the Noosa Shire at 1.4% and the Gold Coast at 0.9%.
• Within the greater Brisbane area, most of the LGA’s sit around the 1% market with Brisbane at 1.1%, Ipswich 1%, Logan 1.2%, Caboolture 1.1%, Pine Rivers 1%, Moreton Bay 0.8%, Redcliffe 0.5% and Redlands Mainland 0.7%.
• The only area which could be described as “weak” across all of Queensland is the Redland Bay islands (incl North Stradbroke, Russell, Macleay, Lamb etc) at 5.7%.

In their Quarterly National Rental Report, PropTrack reported an increase in median weekly advertised rents of 3.4% for the December quarter in Brisbane. There is no short term fix for improving the vacancy rate issue across Queensland, with total dwelling approvals for Queensland in December 2023 falling by 2.1% from November 2023 and 15.2% lower than 12 months ago.

Source: Queensland Government Statistician’s Office