Rental costs are expected to pick up over the next year after a stagnant June quarter.
An Australian Property Monitors (APM) report shows that despite high demand for rental properties, the national median price for rents rose by only 0.7 per cent over the quarter.
APM economist Matthew Bell says it is likely landlords withheld rent increases because of the uncertain environment, but that is likely to change as the economic outlook settles.
"We've seen retail spending be very weak over the last three or four months. We've seen the share market been quite weak in the June quarter, and I think that's probably fed through to landlords asking for not quite as much rental increases as the vacancy rates and other factors might imply," he said.
"We've still got a lot of people looking for not quite enough properties out there, and there's not a lot being built on the horizon.
"We still see pretty low building approvals and new houses being built, so you'd have to say in the next six months to a year, I'd expect to see rental growth pick up again."
