Sydney Northern Beaches 2023 Rental Market Wrap-Up

By John Hall – Property Investment Specialist

Well, it’s the end of another year – and what a year it’s been for Upstate and the Northern Beaches property market!

As always, we like to take this opportunity to look back over the past 12 months and put together a comprehensive market wrap-up for the year, as well as make our predictions for the year ahead, to help you make better investment decisions moving forward.

Of course, as a savvy property investor, this is something you cannot afford to miss.

We’ll provide you with a complete snapshot of the state of the current Sydney rental market, as well as what you can expect to happen in 2024.

So, without further ado, here is Upstate’s 2023 Rental Market Wrap-Up.

An overview of the Sydney Northern Beaches rental market

First, let’s check out the current state of the leasing market, as well as the challenges that we faced along the way in 2023.

Vacancy rates

At the beginning of the year, vacancy rates were sitting at 1.3% across Sydney’s Northern Beaches. By June, however, they had risen to a high of 2.2%, before making their way back down to where they now sit at 0.8% – the lowest we’ve seen since November 2015.

Rental prices

In terms of pricing, the average asking price for a house hit a historic high in June this year at $1527 per week. Likewise, the average asking price for a unit hit an all-time high in November when it peaked at $867 per week.

Market challenges

All in all, 2023 has been quite a challenging year in the Sydney Property Management space, with plenty of highs and lows along the way.

It’s also been a challenging year for tenants as well, especially as the increase in rental prices created even more competition at each open home.

Not only that, but many of the properties that were sold this year were investment properties, further adding to the competition and lack of availability in the rental market. This was due to investors selling to help ease the pressure of increasing interest rates.

So, how did Upstate perform in 2023?

As far as rental market performance goes, we had another solid year here at Upstate.

Throughout 2023, we leased 640 properties and received 17,386 enquiries and 2408 applications.

Of course, given the tricky market conditions, our main focus this year has been working to provide more opportunities for tenants stressing about finding a new home.

At the same time, we’ve also been working to provide the best customer service journey for each of our landlords too, while ensuring we were offering the right advice that they needed to help make the best decisions for their investments moving forward.

 

Here’s a snapshot of some of our significant transactions in 2023:

LEASED

Upstate just recently leased an apartment off-market for the price of $3250 per week. This was a significant achievement and a huge win for the landlord.

 

1/21 Cavill Street, Queenscliff – LEASED

This property was leased within 4 days of listing it online.

After listing on Monday, we already had 6 applications before the first open home on Wednesday. By the following day, we had leased the property after receiving a total of 29 applications. Overall, 32 groups came through the property and 47 enquiries were received.

Summary:

• Days on market: 4 days
• Number of open home attendees: 32 groups
• Number of applications: 28 applications (with more than half offering above asking price – the successful applicant offering $80 over)

 

13/21 Redman Road, Dee Why – LEASED

This property was leased within 6 days of listing it online – and 16 days before the settlement date!

After listing on Wednesday, we already had 7 applications by the first open home on Saturday. By Monday, we had leased the property after receiving a total of 16 applications. All in all, 38 groups came through to inspect the property, and 82 enquiries were received in that time.

Summary:

• Days on the market: 6 days
• Number of open home attendees: 38 groups
• Number of applications: 16 applications (with 6 offering above asking price)
• Leased 16 days before settlement

Check out more of the Sydney properties LEASED by Upstate in 2023 here.

Throughout 2023, our team has continued to adapt to industry trends to maintain our success

At Upstate, we pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to evolving industry trends so we can continue to thrive, even in the most challenging times.

As an example, the reason our agency continues to complete the most transactions on the Northern Beaches each year is that we ensure that every campaign starts with a customised game plan that’s designed to help us achieve the best result.

We also care about the tenants in the marketplace – especially during such challenging periods as this. When good tenants miss out on a property in our area, we put in the effort to help them find another home that suits their needs.

This has proven to be a key differentiator for us.

Many of our tenants report a great experience here at Upstate, and some will now only ever lease properties that are managed by us.

So, what does the future hold for the Northern Beaches rental market?

Personally, I believe that 2024 is going to be a very exciting year in our market. Of course, while it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen, we do believe that:

• Asking prices for rental properties will remain strong throughout 2024
• New properties will prove more desirable than existing stock

In saying that, we do expect that more investors will feel incentivised to return to the market, as this will create more rental properties and ease the pressure on increasing rental pricing to improve leasing performance across the board.

A big thank you to YOU for another great year at Upstate

I’d like to finish this 2023 Rental Market Wrap-Up with a couple of thank yous.

First, I’d like to thank you – our valued clients – for continuing to choose Upstate year after year. We love being a part of your Sydney investment property journey.

I’d also like to thank my partners at Upstate for their support. Having recently been appointed as Partner Upstate, I look forward to helping more clients achieve their property goals.

Here’s to a big 2024.

John Hall and the Upstate Leasing team

Elevate your property investments with John Hall at Upstate today

As a Property Investment Specialist, John Hall, with the support of Ilijana Nonkovic and the Leasing team, is your expert property advisor who can help you make smarter purchases and receive higher investment returns.

If you’re looking to invest in real estate, contact John today at 0403 346 089

Interested in learning more about the property market? Check out the Upstate 2023 Property Market Wrap here.