Quarterly house price to rent ratio Australia 2019-2024

In the third quarter of 2024, the house price-to-rent ratio in Australia was estimated at 130.4, marking a decrease from the same quarter of the previous year. An indicator of how strong the property market is, the house price-to-rent ratio was calculated by dividing nominal house prices by rent price indices. After reaching a peak in 2017, the price-to-rent ratio decreased each quarter until the third quarter of 2019. From then, the house price-to-rent ratio continued to increase, reaching a high in the first quarter of 2022. Since the second quarter of 2022, the house price-to-rent ratio has started to trend downward. 

Is Australia in a property bubble?

Many industry experts believe the country is in a property bubble, indicated by the rapid increase in Australian property market prices to the point that they are no longer relative to incomes and rents, followed by a decline. The house price-to-income ratio has also followed a similar trend, falling to around 97 in the third quarter of 2020 before recovering towards the end of the year. 

Housing demand

In August 2024, the rental vacancy rate, which indicates how many properties are available for rent out of all the rental stock, was relatively high in Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne. That year, the average weekly rent prices varied across the country depending on the city, with the highest average weekly rents for houses and units in Sydney and Canberra.