Consistent with seasonal trends, leasing has been tough during the winter months. However, things have picked up this month, and September is looking good.
Our leasing figures paint an accurate picture of what has been happening and where we’re heading: we leased 6 properties in April, 9 in May, 12 in June, 14 in July, and 18 so far in August.
There are larger than usual numbers of properties available throughout the East at the moment, which means that tenants are being choosy about what they want and the rent they’re prepared to pay. We need to ensure that properties present wel l and are priced competitively to minimise vacancies. This is typical of the market in winter, and things will swing back in favour of the landlord again as summer approaches.
In the past few weeks, we’ve seen email and phone enquiries increasing daily. Numbers at open for inspections have been low over July and the beginning of August, but are gradually beginning to increase week by week.
In mid-to-late September we’ll no doubt see the usual flood of tenants wanting to get into properties near the beach and harbour. We’ll be ready when the rush begins!