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Rental Vacancy Rates Melbourne
How is the Melbourne rental market going? We have recent ABS and REIV, a podcast on how the rental market is really going. We look at the cause of the supply shortage in the market.
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Rental Vacancy Rates Melbourne

Data from rental bonds—commonly used as an indicator of rental property availability—reveals a significant drop, with the number of active rental bonds decreasing from 677,492 in September 2023 to 652,766 in 2024.

 

This represents a net loss of 24,726 rental properties over the year, equating to a 3.6% decline in the state’s total rental supply.

 

The rate of decline has also intensified, with rental bonds falling by 4,315 in the three months to March 2024, 7,820 in the three months to June, and 9,498 in the three months to September.

Rental-Vacancy-Rates-Melbourne 2023

Despite a tightening rental market, Melbourne has seen a decline in rental prices over the past six months, alongside a rise in vacancy rates, according to CoreLogic data.

Melbourne rents declined by 0.4% in the second half of 2024, driven primarily by a 1.1% decrease in unit rents, while house rents remained stable over the same period.

 

Rental vacancy rates have risen, and rental growth has slowed, indicating that the reduction in rental supply is being met with weaker rental demand.

 

The main causes for the lack of supply in the rental market is due to a combination of events of the last two years:

 

  • Increase in holding costs: high interest rates, low rental yields, a sharp increase in land tax.
  • Changes in rental laws that have increased maintenance costs (Jan 2022)
Rental Vacancy Rates January 2025

The vacancy rates for metro Melbourne and regional Victoria held steady at 2.5% and 2.1%, respectively, throughout the month.

Meanwhile, the median weekly rent for houses in metropolitan Melbourne remained at $580, while in regional Victoria, it edged up to $575.

SQM Research Weekly Asking Prices Index
Week ending
4 Mar 2025                      ($)		 Change on
prev week($)		 Rolling month
% change		 Rolling quarter
% change		 12 month
% change		 3 year
%(pa) change		 7 year
%(pa) change		 10 year
%(pa) change
Melbourne All Houses
1,257.544
 4.106  0.4%  1.4%  1.8%  2.8%  3.5%  6.9% 
3 br Houses
1,118.017
 2.242  1.1%  1.8%  0.9%  1.1%  2.3%  5.7% 
All Units
616.872
 1.578  0.6%  0.7%  2.4%  2.2%  1.9%  3.6% 
2 br Units
603.138
 0.253  0.7%  1.1%  1.3%  1.5%  1.3%  2.9% 
Combined
1,055.704
 3.309  0.4%  1.2%  1.7%  2.4%  3.0%  6.1% 
Vacancy Rates March 2024

The vacancy rate for properties in metro Melbourne remained steady at 2.1 percent, while in regional Victoria, it decreased to 2.1 percent over the past month. In metropolitan Melbourne, the median weekly rent for houses increased to $580, whereas in regional Victoria, it held steady at $460.

Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
April 2024 March 2024 April 2024 March 2024
METRO 2.1 2.1 $580 $570
REGIONAL 2.1 2.2 $460 $460
Vacancy Rates January 2024
  • The vacancy rate decreased to 2.3% in metropolitan Melbourne and also declined to 2.1% in regional Victoria over the month.

  • In metropolitan Melbourne, the median weekly rent for houses has consistently stayed at $550 for five months, whereas in regional Victoria, it has increased to $460.

 

Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
December 2023 November 2023 December 2023 November 2023
METRO 2.3 2.4 $550 $550
REGIONAL 2.1 2.2 $460 $450
Vacancy Rates September 2023

Market Snapshot – September 2023

  • The proportion of vacant properties rose to 2.4 per cent for metro Melbourne and it fell to 2.1 per cent for regional Victoria over the month.
  • The median weekly rent for houses in metropolitan Melbourne remained at $550, while it also stayed at $450 for regional Victoria.

    

Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
September 2023 August 2023 September 2023 August 2023
METRO 2.4 2.3 $550 $550
REGIONAL 2.1 2.2 $450 $450
Vacancy Rates August 2023
Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
August 2023 July 2023 August 2023 July 2023
METRO 2.3 2.2 $550 $540
REGIONAL 2.2 2.3 $450 $440
Vacancy Rates May 2023

Market Overview May 2023.

  • The proportion of vacant properties in metro Melbourne went down from 2.4 per cent (Jan 23) to 2.1 percent in May 23.
  • The weekly median rent for houses in metropolitan Melbourne rose to $525 while regional Victoria also rose to $450.
Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
May 2023 April 2023 May 2023 April 2023
METRO 2.1 2.1 $525 $525
REGIONAL 2.3 2.2 $450 $440
Vacancy Rates January 2023

Market Overview January 2023.

  • The proportion of vacant properties went down to 2.4 per cent for metro Melbourne, while it went back to 2.0 per cent for regional Victoria over the month.
  • The weekly median rent for houses in metropolitan Melbourne rose to $520 while regional Victoria also rose to $450.
Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
January 2023 December 2022 January 2023 December 2022
METRO 2.4 2.5 $520 $513
REGIONAL 2.0 1.9 $450 $440
Vacancy Rates September 2022

Market Snapshot – September 2022

  • The proportion of vacant properties went down to 3.2 per cent for metro Melbourne, while it stayed at 2.0 per cent for regional Victoria over the month.
  • The weekly median rent for houses in metropolitan Melbourne remained at $500 while regional Victoria saw an increase to $430.

 

Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
September 2022 August 2022 September 2022 August 2022
METRO 3.2 3.6 $500 $500
REGIONAL 2.0 2.0 $430 $420
Vacancy Rates June 2022

Market Snapshot – June 2022

  • The proportion of vacant properties went down to 4.0 per cent for metro Melbourne, while it rose to 1.8 per cent for regional Victoria over the month.
  • The weekly median rent for houses in both metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria remained at $500 and $420 respectively.

    

Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
June 2022 May 2022 June 2022 May 2022
METRO 4.0 4.7 $500 $500
REGIONAL 1.8 1.7 $420 $420
Vacancy Rates March 2022

Market Snapshot – March 2022

Vacancy Rate Weekly Median Rent (Houses)
March 2022 February 2022 March 2022 February 2022
METRO 5.1 5.1 $500 $490
REGIONAL 1.4 1.3 $420 $410

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