Regional rents stay high

SOARING rents are not easing in regional Victoria following another month of low vacancy rates.

The latest monthly rental data from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria, revealed average rent increasing from the October 2018 levels across regional Victoria by $20 a week for a home and $30 a week for a unit.

With the average vacancy rate across regional Victoria on just 1.6 per cent, we urgently need more rental properties to keep up with the rising demand.

Sustainable vacancy rates hover around 4 or 5 per cent; however, in regional Victoria, we are nowhere near that mark.

In East Gippsland vacancy rates are at a measly 0.9 per cent, the La Trobe Valley and the Wimmera are at 1.3 per cent, Bendigo sits on 1.4 per cent, Ballarat has a vacancy rate of 1.7 per cent and Geelong is at just 2.0 per cent.

Many renters have been taking up longer leases, which means that many rental homes aren’t available as frequently as previous years.

The upcoming changes to the Residential Tenancy Act have also spooked some landlords who are worried about losing control of their investment properties.

We have received many reports of homes being taken off the market, which has increased housing demand further.

The State government now needs to work with landlords and do more to encourage them to rent out their investment properties.

There is a lot of work to do to attract more property investors on the market; luckily, it is also the perfect time to rent out a property.

Rising rents provide a great return to landlords, and with demand up, houses are taking less time to be leased out.