Regional Victorian rents have notched a fresh record after modest price growth over the past year, which experts warn will put more pressure on already stretched affordability outside Melbourne.
Council areas on Melbourne’s edge recorded some of the strongest growth over the year to June, prompting fears the rental crisis was spilling over the city’s borders.
The median weekly asking rent for Victorian houses outside Melbourne rose 4.4 per cent over the 12 months to June to $470, the latest Domain Rent Report showed. Unit asking rents rose 4.3 per cent to $365 over the same period.
Quarterly growth was more moderate, up 2.2 per cent for houses and 1.4 per cent for units in the three months to June.
Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said the resumption of price growth would tighten the screws on tenants fighting over the few rentals available in regional towns.
“We had seen a period of stability for overall rents in regional Victoria,” she said. “There was a six-month period where there was no movement, but we did see an increase over the March quarter.
“It looks like the pressure is being applied again in regional Victoria.”
The vacancy rate for regional Australia was 0.9 per cent in the June quarter, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous quarter. Domain does not publish vacancy rates for regional Victoria.
The strongest annual growth in regional Victoria was in the Swan Hill (13.5 per cent), Golden Plains (13.5 per cent), Macedon Ranges (11.8 per cent) and Moorabool (11 per cent) council areas.
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