CANBERRA house rents made the steepest quarterly decline in the country, the first annual decline the city has seen since 2014, according to new figures.

The Domain rent report says Canberra unit rents held steady over the June quarter, $10 lower than the record high of late 2022.

The figures reveal that the weekly asking rent in June 2022 in Canberra for a house was $690, but as of June 2023 had dropped to $675.

For units, the weekly asking rent in Canberra, for June 2022 and June 2023, stayed at $550.

Elsewhere, Australia’s combined capitals are experiencing their longest stretch of continuous rental growth on record with Canberra one of only two capital cities bucking the trend of quarterly price growth, with Hobart as the second, for both units and houses.

The report highlights that Australia’s rental market remains locked in favour of landlords as limited supply pushes asking rents to historic highs.

Key factors contributing to these rising prices include overseas migration, return of international students and tenants opting to rent for longer due to financial barriers to home ownership.