House rental prices in Melbourne surge to a record high

House rents have hit a record high in Melbourne, but it’s still the cheapest capital city in Australia to rent a home.

The average rental price for a house in metropolitan Melbourne rose by $15 in the three months to December, bringing the average weekly price to $445.

Despite the jump, Melbourne’s rental prices are still below those in all other capital cities in the country.

“When you have a look at the annual increase in rents in Melbourne it was only up 1.1 per cent over the year … but in some of our other cities we’ve got double digit annual growth,” chief of research and economics at Domain, Dr Nicola Powell, told Stephen Quartermain and Emily Power, filling in for Ross and Russel.

“It’s quite a remarkable outcome and a change in circumstance since COVID.”

But in the CBD, apartment rental prices have been “nothing short of remarkable”.

“In October of 2020 the vacancy rate was just above 14 per cent, it’s now shrunk to 4.5 per cent,” Dr Powell said.

“What we’re seeing now, inner-city apartment rents are rising, they still remain below their previous price peak by just over $100.”

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