The rental vacancy rate in Melbourne improved slightly in August, from 1.3 per cent in July to 1.4 per cent. Across regional Victoria the rate remained steady at 2.1 per cent.
The extremely low number of vacancies is having an impact on rents. Office of Housing data reveals that rents for two bedroom apartments increased 13.5 per cent over the year ending March and REIV research reveals that compared to this time last year almost half of all agents surveyed reported an increase in rents being paid late.
The low vacancy rate and spiralling rents highlights the importance of increasing the number of homes that are available for tenants.
REIV research also reveals that for the first time in twelve months the outer suburbs of Melbourne have recorded the metropolitans’ area’s lowest vacancy rate, with 0.9 per cent of rental homes available compared to 1.6 per cent in July.
The most noticeable improvement was in the inner suburbs where between 4 and 10km from the CBD the vacancy rate has increased from 0.5 per cent in June to 1.4 per cent in August.
Vacancy rates remained stable in regional Victoria with the three main regional centres still having vacancy rate similar to Melbourne. The Geelong region recorded a slight increase from 1 to 1.3 per cent, the Bendigo region a similar increase from 1.7 to .19 and the Ballarat region an increase from 1 to 1.7 per cent.
REIV analysis of vacancy rate data has revealed a worrying trend. For almost three years, while there has been cyclical tightening and easing of vacancy rates, there has not been a month that the vacancy rate has been at or above two per cent, a level traditionally regarded as the lower end of a balanced market.
