Checked the vacancy data going into the new year, and it's genuinely remarkable how little it's moved over four years now. Still sitting well under two percent across most of Brisbane, a slight loosening from the extreme lows of 2022 and 2023, but nowhere close to the two and a half to three percent that actually counts as balanced.
For a landlord, this remains the most consequential number in the entire market, more than rates, more than median price growth. It's the reason every property manager I talk to still describes tenant demand as effectively unlimited.
I don't expect this to change meaningfully in the next year either, given how far behind the completion pipeline still is. Good for cash flow. Genuinely difficult for anyone trying to find a home to actually live in, and I try not to lose sight of that second part.