Archive for May 17th, 2009

Melbourne’s outer suburb vacancy rates have improved from 0.7 per cent to 1.8 per cent in the past six months, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria’s April vacancy rates.

The vacancy rate across Melbourne is reasonably steady having been between one and 1.4 per cent for 12 months.  However it‘s significant that there’s a noted improvement in the outer suburbs.

The improvement could be due to the number of first homebuyers that are moving from their rented accommodation into their own home with the assistance of the grants, bonus and boosts.

The March quarter median prices showed that most of the activity in the marketplace has been in the outer suburbs; for instance Craigieburn, Melton South, Hillside, Epping, Caroline Springs, Werribee and Meadow Heights – all outer suburbs of Melbourne very popular with first homebuyers.

It‘s great news for renters if a by-product of the grants, bonus and boosts is an improvement in the availability of rental accommodation, however monitoring of the situation over the next few months to will tell of continual improvement..

We’d consider that the rental market would be in balance once we reach a Melbourne-wide vacancy rate of three per cent.

In the last month the figures from our REIV members have shown a very minor change in the inner suburbs where the vacancy rate moved from 1.5 to 1.3 per cent and in the middle suburbs where it moved from 1.4 to 1.3 per cent.

The value of commercial building permits in Victoria has increased in the March quarter, despite there being a fall in the state’s building industry overall.

Building Commissioner Tony Arnel says that when compared to the same period in 2008, the value of building permits in the state has decreased by 11 per cent to reach below $4.2 billion!

Looking at the data for building use, commercial building permits is the only building use category to increase, up eight per cent to $793 million!

Hospital and healthcare recorded the biggest fall in the quarter dropping 55%, industrial fell by 46%, public buildings by 4%, retail by nearly 27%, residential by 17% and domestic by 3%!

According to Mr. Arnel, North Central was the only Victorian region that experienced an increase in the value of permits issued.

It had nearly a 23 per cent increase when compared to the same period of 2008.