Professionals Armidale 
Professionals Armidale property management team leased 45 properties for the month of July. This consisted of 24 houses and 21 units. Our vacancy rate has increased from 1.25% – 1.8% throughout June to over 2% – 2.5% in July. The main factor contributing to the increase is that we had 42 tenants vacate during the month of July. This is our highest number on record, and a large number of these tenants have left the New England region due to employment circumstances.
According to CoreLogic, combined regional house prices rose 1.1% over three months to June, however, were down -6.5% over the last year. The national average annual rent increase sits at 9.7%, well ahead of the decade average of 3% per annum. It appears that investors are still strong in the market with investor finance contributing to 34% of new mortgages throughout May.
“Our property management philosophy is simple –
to minimise arrears, vacancies, and expenses, and to maximise your return”
On the first Tuesday of July, the RBA held interest rates at 4.1% however, released a statement saying, “further tightening of monetary policy may be required to ensure that inflation returns to target in a reasonable timeframe, but that will depend upon how the economy and inflation evolve.” According to property strategist, Alastair Lias, borrowers should prepare for at least one, if not two more hikes before we reach the peak.
There is typically a two-or-three-month lag between each cash rate hike and when the banks pass on the rate increase to borrowers. This means most variable borrowers have only started paying for rate hike number 10 and still have two more rate hikes to conquer without further increases from the Reserve Bank.
Professional Armidale Landlords Newsletter – July 2023
By Jamie Williams
Director
Head, Property Management / Investment Specialist
Professionals Armidale
M: 0481 173 322
P: 02 6772 4549
