An asking rent is an advertised price
SQM Research tracks advertised rental properties. Its asking-rent observations describe that advertised market, rather than a census of the rent every tenant currently pays. An existing lease, a newly advertised home and a broad market series can describe different things.
In AusHousing Trends, the rental source is labelled next to the figures. Capital-city observations use SQM city regions; regional city summaries use the named postcode only. A figure for postcode 2300 should not be read as the rent for all of Newcastle.
Check the property category before the number
All houses and all units are the supported rental categories. The apartment and unit views both use the all-units series; they are not separate measurements. A missing townhouse figure means that a separate source series is not connected.
Two properties in the same postcode can still differ substantially in size, condition, bedrooms and location. Use the market figure for context, then compare actual listings that meet your requirements.
Read the observation date, not just the refresh date
The observation date identifies the period described by the provider. The retrieval date tells you when the app successfully checked that source. Checking today does not turn an older observation into a new one.
The app refreshes successful source caches daily on access. Its monthly rental charts calculate means of available weekly observations. A month with missing weeks is not filled with invented values, and a monthly average is not a monthly median.
Keep changes and vacancy in context
City annual rent-change figures use the combined source series where available. They do not describe an individual house, and they should not be presented as the growth of whichever property tab happens to be selected.
Vacancy uses a separate source period. When comparing two places, check both dates and both coverage labels. A blank value means there is no usable observation; a genuine zero change means an observation was available and showed no change.
Sources & further reading
Market context and illustrative scenarios are not valuations or individual financial advice. Definitions and source availability can change.