Would you like to know what your tenant is thinking? And what the sensational headlines in mainstream media don’t tell you?
Tenant Sentiment
Well despite record vacancy rates, which I will come back to; we have found tenant sentiment is down. A distinctly higher proportion of prospective tenants attending open inspections are lacking a sense of urgency and willingness to commit to making a move to a new property with a ‘take it or leave it’ approach. This is in contrast to a typical spring market that we are all too familiar with, but not to say that we are without huge demand in certain suburbs and regions.
As for vacating tenants at Focus, we have found that many of them are downsizing if they are not utilizing all of the space of their property and attempting to change their lifestyle to fit with their increased cost of living, despite paying a valid rent.
On the other hand many of our tenant clients that happen to be on a continuing agreement are also seeking to lock in fixed lease terms and for longer periods if possible for greater security.
Vacancy Rates
The vacancy rate is currently sitting at 0.73% across Focus’ managed properties and is about a third lower than that of the REI NSW average for Sydney. This is a great result as always and due to our proven marketing strategies in place by Focus Property Management and not to mention the tireless efforts of our leasing team. Both of these factors ensure maximum occupancy for our property investors. (Refer to vacancy rate graph below)
What does this mean for you?
As a result we are seeing less pressure on rents to increase at the previously anticipated levels and will have to watch closely to see how this plays out over the coming months and how the rental market kicks off in January 2012.
Until next time, take care.
-Bernie Mitchell
