July Rental Update

The reduction in the number of vacant homes in the middle and outer suburbs has led to a tightening in Melbourne’s vacancy rate in July 2013.

Melbourne’s vacancy rate fell from 3.4 per cent in June to 3.2 per cent in July 2013. The weekly rent for a house remained relatively stable at $380 from $381 in June, and has also remained stable from this time last year. The weekly rent for a unit increased from $375 to $380, reflecting a six per cent increase from last year.

There was an increase in vacancy within the inner suburbs from 3.3 per cent to 3.7 per cent making it the highest vacancy rate in the metropolitan area. The vacancy rate for the middle suburbs decreased from 3.6 per cent to three per cent while the vacancy rate for the outer suburbs fell from 2.9 per cent to 1.9 per cent.

While the overall weekly house rent in Melbourne remained stable, there was a 4.2 per cent reduction in the middle suburbs to $375 and a 3.6 per cent increase in the inner suburbs to $520. The increase in the weekly unit rents in Melbourne this month was largely due to an increase in the outer suburbs from $301 to $305.

The vacancy rate in regional Victoria tightened further from 3.7 per cent to 3.4 per cent with declines in all three key regional centres. Ballarat recorded the largest reduction in the vacancy rate from four per cent to 2.9 per cent. The vacancy rate fell in Bendigo from 3.1 per cent to 2.5 per cent and in Geelong from 5.5 per cent to 5.2 per cent. This tightening in the vacancy rate led to the weekly house and unit rents increasing from $295 to $300 and from $228 to $250 respectively

Source – http://www.reiv.com.au