Rental Vacancy Rates Melbourne
There is a lot of doom and gloom around availability of stock on the Melbourne and Victoria rental market with no signs of relief. Media headlines like: ‘Melbourne’s rental market tightens,’ ‘Rising rents in half of Melbourne suburbs leave tenants behind’ is dominating property news.
According to the ABS weekly rents: Rents in Sydney and Melbourne recorded rises in the December / January. The increase in growth was mainly driven by rising demand for houses for rental accommodation and increasing interest rates.
The Real Estate Institute Of Victoria realised month on month data (January 2024) demonstrating a decrease in rental vacancy rates by only .1% in weekly median rents across metro Melbourne and regional Victoria.
12 month overview metro Melbourne: January 2023: 2.2%. January 2024: 2.1%. The proportion of vacant properties dropped by .1 per cent for metro Melbourne over a 12 month period.
The weekly median rent for houses in metropolitan Melbourne saw a slight increase by $7, while it also went up to $10 in regional Victoria.
The main causes for the lack of supply in the rental market is due to a combination of events of the last two years:
- Increasing interest rates, low weekly rents in comparison to investment loan repayments.
- Changes in rental laws that have increased maintenance costs (Jan 2022)
- New changes in property taxes beginning 2024.
- Decrease in inflation, currently at 5.4% (ABS).
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.
-
|
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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Melbourne is officially the fastest growing capital city in Australia, check our the top 20 fastest growing suburbs over Jan, Feb & Mar. 2024.
Property Investor Podcast.
Our founder Mark Ribarsky talks about the data from the Real Estate Institute Of Victoria and Bureau of Statistics.
