Volatility and significant shifts in rents or availability in long-term rental accommodation markets can have huge implications for mobility teams and mobile employees alike, particularly long-term assignees. Housing is often one of the most expensive elements of the compensation package, so accurate budgeting is essential to mobility teams. For assignees and their families, this is more than just another benefit; it has a significant and direct impact on their quality of life and overall assignment experience.
Our benefits team research and analyse long-term rental markets in more than 400 locations every year to ensure GM have the latest data to hand when setting rental budgets, updating housing allowances, or defining housing provision.
In this post, we spotlight key locations where our latest survey revealed significant rental shifts, unpacking the trends and the market forces driving these changes.
Brazil
In our March 2024 survey, we observed significant rent increases in Brazil, chiefly driven by competition for properties in prime areas and landlords raising rents to offset higher overheads. We conducted an interim review of Brazil in September 2024 to track these trends, and found that the same factors persist, continuing to pile pressure on the rental markets. Over this six-month period, most major cities saw average rents rises exceed 6%, with Macae leading the pack (at 10%), followed by Porto Alegre (9%) and Curitiba (8%). This widespread trend of rents outpacing inflation suggests that urbanisation is driving a fundamental shift in the country’s rental landscape.
Myanmar
The ongoing civil war in Myanmar has triggered a significant exodus of assignees from the country over the past several years. When expatriate demand declines sharply, we typically expect to see dramatic falls in rents in prime areas of major cities. However, the opposite has been observed in Myanmar – rents have increased considerably in both Yangon (by 20% between September 2023 and September 2024) and Naypyidaw (by 24%). This may seem counterintuitive at first glance, but these increases have been driven by demand from the remaining assignee population for accommodation with high security standards. These kinds of properties in the relatively safe Yangon and Naypyidaw are highly sought after, enabling landlords to capitalise.
Thailand
We saw annual rent increases of 10% in Bangkok in our latest survey, with demand from assignees and local professionals placing severe pressure on apartments in prime central districts of the city. High mortgage interest rates in Thailand have also sparked fears that property purchase may be out of reach for locals, and adding to competition for properties available to rent.
Bangkok’s status as a business hub has only grown. Booming demand from assignees and local professionals has heaped pressure on apartment rental prices in prime, central districts of the city, pushing them up by 10% between September 2023 and September 2024.
Turkey
Turkey has been grappling with runaway inflation in recent years, and the property markets of major cities have not been immune to cost pressures; the pace of rent increases in Ankara and Istanbul has been relentless for more than two years. However, our most recent survey shows signs that this pace may finally be starting to slow, with rent increases of 10% in Istanbul between March 2024 and September 2024, and increases of 14% in Ankara.
FIND OUT MORE
As ever, if you have any questions about rent increases in your assignment locations or ECA's accommodation data, do reach out to your account manager or drop us an email. If you would like help designing or benchmarking your housing policy, request a callback at a time convenient for you from our Consultancy & Advisory team to discuss your requirements.
Please contact us to speak to a member of our team directly.