Rents Increasing At Fastest Rate In 14 Years

It’s not only homebuyers feeling the pocket pinch with rental rates surging by 3.2% nationally.

According to Corelogic’s Rental Review for the March 2021 quarter, the drivers of growth are diverse with the regions, Darwin and Perth collectively driving much of the increase.

Across combined regional markets, rents rose 4.1% in the first quarter of 2021 according to the report. Elsewhere rents in the combined capitals increased 2.9% by comparison.

Regional units recorded the highest quarterly rental growth of 4.8%, compared to the 2.0% rise in capital city units.

Further, capital city house rents were up 3.3% while regional houses rose by 4.0% during the period.

Darwin has shown the strongest growth in rental rates over the quarter, up 8.2% and 7.0% respectively.

Across the spectrum, Melbourne recorded the weakest growth in rents over the three months to March with house rents up 1.6%, while unit rents were unchanged over the quarter.

CoreLogic’s Research Director Tim Lawless, says “While housing rents are rising at the fastest pace since 2007, the headline reading hides the sheer diversity of rental conditions around the country. At one end of the spectrum we have Perth and Darwin where annual rental growth is well into double digits and accelerating. At the other end is Melbourne and Sydney where rents are down over the year.

“Although rents are generally rising, housing values have been rising at a faster rate which has seen rental yields compress across most of the capital cities. The exceptions are Perth and Darwin where rents have risen at a faster pace than housing values, driving a rise in yields. The opposite is true in Sydney and Melbourne where rental yields are plumbing new record lows,” added Mr Lawless.

For years, tech entrepreneur Asher Waldfogel and his wife, Helyn MacLean, dreamed of building a modern house in Palo Alto, Calif.

The couple, however, worried about clashing with the Mediterranean-style architecture typically associated with their neighborhood of Old Palo Alto.

So they tapped architect Steven Ehrlich to create a design that paid homage to its surroundings with stucco, mahogany and titanium zinc cladding. They spent $20 million over several years building the house, completed in 2005.

Designed for indoor-outdoor living, the house has matching mahogany paneling and limestone both inside and out. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The dining room is between an outdoor garden and the staircase. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Now looking to be closer to their adult daughter on the East Coast, they are putting the five-bedroom home on the market for $44 million—the most expensive listing in Palo Alto.

Waldfogel is an angel investor who co-founded Redback Networks, a telecommunications-equipment company. MacLean previously had a career in fundraising.

The kitchen and family room open to the garden and pool. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Cast alcoves and mahogany shelves house the couple’s books and ceramics. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

The couple purchased the roughly 0.4-acre site for $7.1 million in 2000 and demolished a circa-1930s Spanish Colonial home. The house they built pinwheels around a central staircase. It has 7,900 square feet of livable space, with four distinct courtyards and a pool.

A key feature of the home is a cast-in-place concrete wall, or spine, that is two stories high and about 80 feet long. “There’s a little bit of controlled chaos in what comes out of the form,” unlike a perfectly uniform surface, Waldfogel said. “If you want that, you do it in plastic.”

Ehrlich said it took a few tries to get the concrete wall right. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

‘It’s a really hard material to tame,’ Ehrlich said of concrete. Workers learned as they went, and Waldfogel and Helyn grew to appreciate the imperfect material. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

A central staircase is housed in a glass tower. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Waldfogel said he and his wife are thinking about the next phase of life now that their daughter is grown, although they have not decided where they will move. They also have a home in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“Right now we’re just trying to emotionally let go and decide what to do next,” he said.

Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Two wings of the house are connected by horizontal planes. Arthur Sharif/Sotheby’s International Realty

Palo Alto, an epicenter of venture capital and tech startups in Silicon Valley, is home to some of the country’s biggest tech titans. Sales volume and prices are rising, with a median sale price of $3.5 million for the three months ending in August, up 5.8% year-over-year, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin.

Arthur Sharif of Sotheby’s International Realty—San Francisco Brokerage has the listing.

Rents Increasing At Fastest Rate In 14 Years

With regional areas outpacing the capital cities.

A five-bedroom Palo Alto home designed by Steven Ehrlich is listed for $44 million, making it the city’s most expensive listing. Built around a dramatic concrete spine, the home features four courtyards and a pool.