In just 12 months, the average weekly rent for a unit in Ballarat has jumped 8.7 percent, with some areas facing an increase of almost 15 per cent.
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In Ballarat, renters can expect to fork out $349 weekly or $1396 a month, for a unit.
Data from CoreLogic found Ballarat's vacancy rate was at just 0.7 per cent for units and 1.4 per cent for houses.
This is a drop from 0.9 per cent in August 2022 for units and 1.5 per cent for houses.
In June, the some suburbs such as Wendouree had jumped up 7.2 per cent over 12 months compared to the May data.
In August, it was a 14.3 per cent increase in 12 months.
The vacancy rate in Wendouree is just 0.5 per cent.
Other hard hit areas for unit rentals include Mount Clear (9.9 per cent increase), Sebastopol (8 per cent increase) and just 0.9 per cent vacancy rate, Canadian (8.9 per cent increase) with a 0.5 per cent vacancy rate.
For houses, there was less increase in rental costs.
The average increase across the Ballarat LGA was 4.2 per cent and the average weekly rent was $435.
The highest increase was in Cardigan with 6.8 per cent, Golden Point with 5.9 per cent and Sebastopol with 5.6 per cent.
However, houses have a greater vacancy though also dropped since August 2022 from 1.5 per cent to 1.4 per cent.
The lowest vacancy rate was in Miners Rest with 04 per cent.
Lake Wendouree's house vacancy dropped from 3.4 per cent in August 2022 to 1 per cent in August 2023.
Earlier this month, CoreLogic head of residential research Eliza Owen said part of the reason rents had risen in most suburbs was because it was a relatively affordable market compared to some other regional centres or the capital city.
"The good news for renters as well is the pace of increase in rents might slow a bit more next year," Ms Owen said.
She pointed to the potential decline in interest rates as one factor which may help renters.
"We've also seen more investor activity across the market recently as well which adds to rental supply and we'll probably see this trend where people go back to share housing to try and bring down their rental costs as well."
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The housing crisis has been ongoing with the state government determined to tackle the shortage of housing through recent changes to how Victorians rent.
Among the changes put forward by the government include:
- Rent bidding by prospective tenants to be outlawed
- Increasing the minimum notice to vacate time from 60 to 90 days
- Banning landlords from raising rents for a year after asking the previous tenant to vacate
- A new agency will be set up to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants
Ballarat council are undertaking a new housing strategy to help pave the way for 30,000 new houses, including units, over the next 15 years.
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