Melbourne’s outer suburbs have Victoria’s tightest rental vacancy rate: REIV

Melbourne’s outer suburbs continued to have the lowest rental vacancy rate in Victoria, standing at just 1% in June, compared with 1.1% in May, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.

In the middle and inner suburbs, the vacancy rate was 1.9%.

“If this trend continues, there might be upward pressure on rents following the stabilisation that occurred last year,” REIV chief executive Enzo Raimondo forecasts.

The overall vacancy rate for Melbourne is 1.8%, down from 2.1% in May.

“The metropolitan rate also showed a slight decrease throughout the first six months of the year, with the average vacancy rate at 2.1%, compared with 2.8% in the last six months of last year,” Raimondo says.

“Using the most recent data on the number of rental properties in Melbourne, the vacancy rate last month equated to about 4,600 vacant properties.”

The vacancy rate for all of Victoria was 2% last month, having averaged 2.1% during the first six months of the year.

It compares with the 2.6% in the last six months of 2011, according to the REIV.

The vacancy rate is based on properties managed by REIV member agencies.

The state's regional vacancy rate eased from 1.8% to 2.7% – a significant shift that reflected increasing vacancy rates in Geelong, Bendigo and Mildura.

The vacancy rate is based on properties managed by REIV member agencies.