Record vacancy lows recorded in melbourne homes

Rents are skyrocketing and vacancy rates reaching record lows in the Southern Australian city of Melbourne, according to recent data by the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.

According to the think tank, residential home vacancies were only two percent in January this year, whilst on a more long-term basis, rates have not dipped below three percent for the last six years.

As the state government's Office of Housing shows, this trend is reflected in rapid rent rises over the past five years. The median rent for a three-bedroom house in Melbourne has increased by 43.5 percent since 2005, whilst the same figures for two bed units have increased by 54.5 percent.