Melbourne: The shocking statistic revealing how Australia has its housing priorities all wrong
- Up to 100,000 homes left empty in Melbourne
- Water usage data reveals 5.2 per cent of homes vacant
- READ MORE: Why Australia's housing crisis is expected to get even worse
Some 100,000 homes could be vacant in one of Australia's biggest cities, even as renters and home-hunters struggle to lock down secure housing as prices skyrocket on crippling supply shortages.
Analysis of water meter data from tax reform advocacy group Prosper Australia suggests some 5.2 per cent of homes in Melbourne were vacant in 2023, with some 27,000 homes, or 1.5 per cent of stock, were left empty for the entire year.
'We found that over 27,000 homes, or 1.5 per cent of all dwellings, were left entirely empty for the entire year of 2023,' Prosper research and policy director Dr Tim Helm said.
'With the inclusion of underused homes recording less than a quarter of the average single-person consumption (of water) over the year, a total of almost 100,000 homes, or one in 20 dwellings across the city, were vacant.'
'That's equivalent to two and a half years of new construction, which is enough to house everyone on the Victorian public housing waitlist twice over.
'It is a shocking waste that so many homes are left empty during a rental crisis and it speaks to the state of inequality that these numbers keep rising.'
The national rental vacancy rate, or the proportion of properties available for rent, sits at 1.42 per cent, according to data from REA's PropTrack.
In Melbourne, the vacancy rate is 1.5 per cent.
Analysis of water meter data from tax reform advocacy group Prosper Australia suggests some 5.2 per cent of homes in Melbourne were vacant in 2023, with some 27,000 homes, or 1.5 per cent of stock, were left empty for the entire year
From March 2020, the national rate has slumped 43 per cent as surging demand for housing outstrips supply.
The drastic imbalance has pushed average weekly rents higher, with the national average for apartments now sitting at $584, a 9.8 per cent increase in the past year.
State and federal governments are now battling to correct the dramatic imbalance between housing supply and demand.
In Victoria, the state government is ramping up its vacant residential land tax to crack down on properties sitting vacant for extended periods of time.
From January 1 next year, VRLT will apply to homes across all of Victoria if they are vacant for more than six months in the preceding calendar year, the government announced in May.
The tax currently only applies to Melbourne's inner and middle suburbs.
An escalating rate of tax will also apply based on the number of consecutive years the land has been liable for VRLT.
The government hopes the policy will free up more housing options by pushing landlords to rent out their properties.
'We know we need more homes for Victorians and by cracking down on vacant properties we are easing the housing pressures being felt across the state,' Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said.
'Expanding vacant residential land tax will free up empty houses for rent and sale, boosting supply and making homes more affordable.'
Prosper researchers argue for tax reform to undermine the incentive to speculate on rising housing and land values.
'It's a mistake to treat empty homes as a minor issue for housing affordability,' Dr Helm said.
'Bringing just a fraction of Melbourne's vacant dwelling stock into use would improve access to housing.'
There were 1,043,776 unoccupied dwellings nationwide at the 2021 census, the ABS reports.
Think Forward CEO Thomas Walker says the proper exploitation of existing stock is a 'solution staring us right in the face'. Picture: Supplied
Think Forward CEO Thomas Walker the better utilisation of existing stock was a 'solution staring us right in the face'.
'Young people are being left to ride out the housing crisis, with a fuzzy promise of more supply sometime in the future,' he said.
'But Prosper outlines how there is a solution staring us right in the face, the better utilisation of our existing stock.
'The sheer scale of vacancies supports growing calls to address how property is taxed.
'We can continue to enrich speculators in the hope that some supply trickles down to those who need it.
'Or we can rethink how property is taxed, shifting the rewards from speculation to actually providing homes for people.'
