Melbourne tenants slugged extra $1560 a year amid tight rental supply

Melbourne’s tenants will be shelling out an extra $1560 a year after further rises in September and amid worryingly low vacancy rates that have fewer than one in 50 rentals available. A 5.3 per cent increase in the past year has brought the typical cost of renting a home, across both houses and units, to $600 a week — the same level as Hobart, costing the city its title as the nation’s cheapest capital to rent which it now shares with the Tasmanian city. The record cost has left tenants signing up for leases in September shelling out an extra $1560 a year for the city’s median priced rental, and $10,400 a year worse off than they were at the end of the pandemic in 2021. RELATED: Melbourne renters face $31,200 annual bill as $700 suburbs surge Melbourne unit rents now more expensive than houses: REA Group Cheap Melbourne rentals vanish amid unit investor sell-off But with the city’s typical house costing $595 a week, up $25 from a year ago, and the typical unit $600 a week, also up by $25, the figures suggest it’s the inner-city areas where apartments are more prevalent that is hurting renters’ hip pockets the most. Beachside Melbourne has also become increasingly expensive to rent,...