Apartment Vacancy, Rent and Price Outlook H1 2026

We have updated our apartment forecasts over 2025-30 across 53 precincts. Key findings: 

• CBRE expect median rents to grow by 27% between 2025-2030, across 53 precincts in Australian capital cities.
• By 2030, 83% of 2-bed apartments are forecast to have rents exceeding $700/week (36% exceeding $1000/week).
• We expect capital city vacancy will fall further to 1.1% by 2030 from 1.8% in 2025. Vacancy will be around half of the previous decade average of 2.5%.
• CBRE expect median apartment prices to grow by 28% between 2025 and 2030. We expect the strongest growth to be in 2026 and 2027. 
• On total returns basis, we’re most optimistic around Gold Coast and Perth markets.

We also see growing evidence of circa 30% premium of capital values and rents for newer vintage stock.