Regional opportunities

The rental market in regional Victoria offers opportunities for investors and some good value for tenants, if indeed they can find a place to rent.

That might not be as easy as it sounds, with REIV data revealing that rental vacancy rates in regional Victoria fell again in April to 1.7 per cent. That’s even tighter than Melbourne, where the ever-increasing supply of new apartments has kept the rate to 2.0 per cent.

Availability outside the capital is approximately half that of five years ago, and it is no surprise that median weekly rent has ticked up slightly to $315 per week.

While over the last year median rents across regional Victoria for 4BR and 2BR houses have risen (by 4.2 per cent and 2.0 per cent respectively), there have been no increases in other dwelling classifications.

Landlords are receiving gross rental yields of between 4.1 and 4.8 per cent on regional dwellings,which compares favourably with metropolitan yields, where only 1BR units in inner Melbourne (5.0 per cent) are returning slightly higher.

Weekly median rentals on 2BR units are still below $200 in Moe, Kyabram and Benalla, while the median on same sized units are nearly double that in Geelong ($393) and Torquay ($360).

Three-bedroom houses in Morwell, Kyabram, Stawell, Merbein and Churchill have rental medians of under $250, but for tenants in Jan Juc ($480), Torquay ($450) Barwon Heads ($420), renting a 3BR house is a more expensive proposition.

Gisborne ($400), in the Macedon Ranges, is the only location outside the Surf Coast and Greater Geelong in the top 16 median weekly rentals for this sized dwelling, indicative of the increasing popularity of Victoria’s second city and its environs as desirable places to live. If you’d like to know more about home values in your area, head to reiv.com.au/market-insights.