A new study has found almost 100,000 homes are vacant in Melbourne, enough to support those who are homeless and on the social housing waitlist.
One in 20 homes were unoccupied last year, according to the report published by independent think-tank Prosper Australia, who used residential water usage across 200 postcodes to collect the findings.
Of the 97,681 homes deemed vacant, about 27,408 were completely empty while another 70,453 were barely used.
The largest increase in vacancy was seen in the City of Melbourne, which almost tripled to an estimated 10,000 empty homes.
The suburbs with the highest vacancy rates of all were Burwood, Box Hill, Malvern, Hawthorn and Glen Waverley.
“All
LGAs, bar Mornington Peninsula, saw their
vacancy rates increase by about 20 per cent or
more,” the report said.
Two Aussie cities make global top 10
These figures surged off the back of a pandemic exodus, which saw foreign students and workers leave the state to return home.
And now, while thousands of homes sit empty, an estimated 48,620 applicants are on the social housing waitlist and 30,000 people across the state have no home, the report said.
“If vacant homes were all put out for rent, the rental stock would be almost 20 per cent larger,” the report said.
The reason for houses being vacant is still unclear and more research is needed, but the report has attributed it to speculative incentives and a federal tax system that supports capital gains.
“That many renters cannot afford to outbid the convenience value of an empty property speaks of deep inequality, the root cause of unaffordable housing,” the report said.
“Low interest rates and taxes that favour capital gains over rental income make it rational for some owners to choose the flexibility of an empty home over the cash it could yield.”