Tenants feel the heat in Canberra’s surrounding NSW region: Domain Rent Report

New developments and renewable energy projects have put upward pressure on rents in Canberra’s surrounding NSW region, as on new and existing residents hoping to secure a rental property, particularly in the Snowy Mountains, data shows.

According to the latest Domain Rent Report for the December quarter, the median asking rent for a house in the Snowy Mountains reached $460 per week, up 21.1 per cent over the year and the strongest increase in rent prices in the area of NSW adjacent to the capital.

The median asking rent for a unit in Snowy Mountains tailed behind at $375 per week, up 17.2 per cent year-on-year. Increasing by the same amount were units in the Goulburn-Mulwaree region, which sat at $340 per week.

Other regions surrounding the capital, including Young and Yass, the South Coast and Queanbeyan, all saw positive growth over the year.

*Not enough data was available to provide a figure.

Shannon Fergusson of McGrath Snowy Mountains attributed the Snowy Mountains rental price growth to the influx of workers employed at the Snowy 2.0 hydropower project.

“It’s been a two-pronged attack on the Snowy Mountains market in the last two years, particularly because the Snowy hydropower project – which starts from the Cooma end of the Snowy Mountains – brought a lot of people here,” he said.

It has brought both strength to the sales market and pressure to the rental market, Mr Fergusson said, adding: “We’ve definitely seen significant jumps in rent prices.”

The project, which has been underway since 2020, is a renewable energy project that aims to provide “more power, lower electricity prices and provide jobs and opportunities in regional Australia”. The first power generated from Snowy 2.0 is expected in 2024. 

“A lot of those interstate people who moved here for work have come to purchase, which in turn has affected the rental market here because the majority of properties that have come on the market were investor-owned homes,” Mr Fergusson said.

“So now we’re juggling a number of tenants, particularly because we have all these new residents but our existing residents aren’t moving anywhere. It’s a range of things that are happening all at once.”

Closer to the capital, in the Young and Yass region, property manager Megan Antoney of Yass Valley Property said the area was also popular for employment at the Bango Wind Farm development that runs between Yass Valley and Boorowa.

Domain data showed the median asking rent for a house in the region reached $350 per week, up 8.5 per cent over the year. For a unit, it was $250 per week.*

“The Bango Wind Farm has brought a lot of our new residents and created a tighter than usual rental market in the region but there’s also a number of new companies now that have found roots in the area that are also bringing more people,” Ms Antoney said.

“A lot of the properties we lease are houses and for families with a price range of between $350 to $430 per week – there needs to be enough stock to cater to that.”

Ms Antoney added that there was also a “big community of Canberra commuters”.

With Canberra’s rent prices reaching new record highs, as shown by the latest Domain Rent Report – with a median asking rent of $675 per week for a house and $530 per week for a unit – it’s no surprise that many Canberrans have ditched the capital for patches of the surrounding NSW region.

“These are small towns with great character and all the amenities you need, like country living with city benefits, almost,” Ms Antoney said.

“That’s why the Barton Highway development, which connects Canberra to the Hume Highway at Yass, is important because we have a big community of commuters from here to Canberra.”

Moving forward, Ms Antoney said she expected the rental market would receive some relief in the coming years as new property developments began construction.

“This will add some available rental availability for tenants and also make the region an attractive choice for tenants,” she said.

* Not enough data was available to determine the annual change in unit rent prices in Young-Yass year-on-year.