Australia’s rental market could be in for a massive shake-up, as an online rental portal gains traction... Clearance rates still feeling the pinch of elevated auction volumes...
Landlords offered more choice as online rental platform moves forward
Australia’s rental market could be in for a massive shake-up, as an online rental portal gains traction.
Unlike other online platforms such as Domain or realestate.com.au, Rent.com.au is dedicated solely to advertising rental properties.
It’s that dedication that Rent.com.au chief executive Mark Woshnak hopes will help the platform become ubiquitous in Australia’s rental market.
“Our aim is to become like Seek is for job advertisements or CarSales is for selling a car,” Woshnak said.
“Our aim is to be the site that is the first place people look to when they’re looking for a place to rent and also the first place that landlords or agents use to when they’re looking for a tenant,” he said.
There are signs that Woshnak’s vision maybe be slowly turning into reality, with Rent.com.au claiming to have recorded more than 500,000 unique visitors during October this year; a 30% increase in traffic compared to September.
Likely helping the site generate that level of traffic is the fact that unlike other online real estate platforms, Rent.com.au allows private landlords to advertise.
“Not only are platforms like Domain or realestate.com.au not dedicated to renting, they also don’t let private landlords advertise,” Woshnak said.
“If you’re a private landlord you’re pretty much restricted to print in things like local papers or on sites like Gumtree which only offer a pretty unsophisticated level of service.”
Woshnak advertising online comes with obvious benefits, but he also claims it will help landlords’ back pockets.
“Online advertising easily gives landlords greater reach and exposes them to a greater amount of potential tenants and they can include pictures and more information,” he said.
“But using Rent.com.au is going to be cheaper, a small ad in the paper can cost from $120 to $240, our advertisements for private landlords are free currently and are usually only $99.”
Clearance rates still feeling the pinch of elevated auction volumes
Sydney has again been the city hardest hit by the ongoing spring selling season, with the harbour city recording another disappointing clearance rate compared to its recent standards.
According to figures from CoreLogic RP Data, across Australia 3,087 auctions were held last week with the preliminary clearance rate sitting at 60.8%.
One thousand and eighty of those auctions were held in Sydney, where the preliminary clearance rate sits at 59.3%.
If there is no improvement in the preliminary figure, it will represent the third straight week that the Sydney auction market has failed to produce a clearance rate of 60% or above after final results of 58% and 58.3% over the preceding two weeks.
This week’s clearance rate for Sydney was substantially lower than the 71.8% from 1,337 auctions recording during the same week last year.
The Eastern Suburbs sub-region was Sydney’s best performer this week, with a preliminary clearance rate of 82.6%.
While it is currently outperforming Sydney, Melbourne has also felt the impact of elevated auction volumes.
Last week, the Victorian capital was host to 1,477 auctions and the city’s preliminary clearance rate sits at 64.7%.
The previous week’s clearance rate finalised at 69.8% and this week’s results will make five straight weeks of the city’s clearance rate failing to break 70%.
So far, the North East was Melbourne’s strongest performing sub-region last week, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 71.9%
Australia’s rental market could be in for a massive shake-up, as an online rental portal gains traction.
Unlike other online platforms such as Domain or realestate.com.au, Rent.com.au is dedicated solely to advertising rental properties.
It’s that dedication that Rent.com.au chief executive Mark Woshnak hopes will help the platform become ubiquitous in Australia’s rental market.
“Our aim is to become like Seek is for job advertisements or CarSales is for selling a car,” Woshnak said.
“Our aim is to be the site that is the first place people look to when they’re looking for a place to rent and also the first place that landlords or agents use to when they’re looking for a tenant,” he said.
There are signs that Woshnak’s vision maybe be slowly turning into reality, with Rent.com.au claiming to have recorded more than 500,000 unique visitors during October this year; a 30% increase in traffic compared to September.
Likely helping the site generate that level of traffic is the fact that unlike other online real estate platforms, Rent.com.au allows private landlords to advertise.
“Not only are platforms like Domain or realestate.com.au not dedicated to renting, they also don’t let private landlords advertise,” Woshnak said.
“If you’re a private landlord you’re pretty much restricted to print in things like local papers or on sites like Gumtree which only offer a pretty unsophisticated level of service.”
Woshnak advertising online comes with obvious benefits, but he also claims it will help landlords’ back pockets.
“Online advertising easily gives landlords greater reach and exposes them to a greater amount of potential tenants and they can include pictures and more information,” he said.
“But using Rent.com.au is going to be cheaper, a small ad in the paper can cost from $120 to $240, our advertisements for private landlords are free currently and are usually only $99.”
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Clearance rates still feeling the pinch of elevated auction volumes
Sydney has again been the city hardest hit by the ongoing spring selling season, with the harbour city recording another disappointing clearance rate compared to its recent standards.
According to figures from CoreLogic RP Data, across Australia 3,087 auctions were held last week with the preliminary clearance rate sitting at 60.8%.
One thousand and eighty of those auctions were held in Sydney, where the preliminary clearance rate sits at 59.3%.
If there is no improvement in the preliminary figure, it will represent the third straight week that the Sydney auction market has failed to produce a clearance rate of 60% or above after final results of 58% and 58.3% over the preceding two weeks.
This week’s clearance rate for Sydney was substantially lower than the 71.8% from 1,337 auctions recording during the same week last year.
The Eastern Suburbs sub-region was Sydney’s best performer this week, with a preliminary clearance rate of 82.6%.
While it is currently outperforming Sydney, Melbourne has also felt the impact of elevated auction volumes.
Last week, the Victorian capital was host to 1,477 auctions and the city’s preliminary clearance rate sits at 64.7%.
The previous week’s clearance rate finalised at 69.8% and this week’s results will make five straight weeks of the city’s clearance rate failing to break 70%.
So far, the North East was Melbourne’s strongest performing sub-region last week, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 71.9%
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