NATIONALLY, Canberrans pay the highest weekly rent for houses and the second highest for apartments, according to the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s (REIA) quarterly report. 

The June quarter report reveals the ACT pays the most to rent a house, with the average being $540 a week.

For other dwellings, Canberrans pay the second highest, behind Sydney, at about $480 a week.

According to the report, it’s about $40 cheaper, on average, to rent a house in Sydney, but about $40 more expensive to rent another dwelling type, such as an apartment in Sydney.

The cheapest city to rent other dwellings in is Adelaide, where the average is about $305 a week, and the cheapest city to rent a house, is in Perth, which costs about $340 a week.

For house sales, Canberra is the third most expensive city to buy in, behind Sydney and Melbourne, with the average house costing about $690,000. The ACT is also the third most expensive to buy other dwellings, such as apartments, with the average cost being $471,000. On average, Melbourne is $621,000 to buy other dwellings and Sydney is $735,000.

The cheapest city to buy a house is Perth, with the average house sale costing about $475,000, and the cheapest other dwelling type to buy is Darwin, where the average cost is about $280,000.

Over the quarter, the median rent for three-bedroom houses decreased in all capital cities except for Canberra, where there was a marginal increase, and Sydney where the rent remained stable, according to REIA president Adrian Kelly.

“A factor contributing to the market stability is the decline in the number of listings for sale,” said Mr Kelly.

“In all capital cities except Perth the number of houses and other dwellings for sale declined compared to the June quarter 2019.

“The biggest declines were in Hobart where the number of houses for sale declined by 33 per cent and the number of other dwellings by 26 per cent.

“The market is holding up better than many expected with the government’s initiatives of JobKeeper and JobSeeker as well as the banks loan deferrals playing their part in stabilising the situation.

“With extensions to these having been announced we expect continued stability in the market.”