Vacancies remain tight in most capital cities, despite seasonal rises in vacancies in December, according to the latest data from SQM Research. Most cities have vacancies similar to or less than those at the same time last year.

Hobart continues to have the tightest rental market with a vacancy rate of just 0.4%, while Canberra and Adelaide both have vacancies a little over 1%. Melbourne’s vacancy rate was around 2% in December, the same as a year earlier.

Brisbane’s rate has improved considerably over the past year, falling from 3.8% to 3.2%, while Perth vacancies have dropped from 4.6% to 3.4%.

The only city where vacancies are trending to uncomfortably high levels are Sydney, where they’ve risen from 2.6% a year ago to 3.6%, and Darwin which is up from 3.5% to 4.3%.

SQM says the capital city average vacancy rate was 2.5% in December, the same as 12 months earlier. “The rise in vacancies in December (compared to November) was due to seasonality,” SQM managing director Louis Christopher says.