Tuesday 12 January 2021

Melbourne vacancy rates still trending higher

Melbourne vacancies spike

An interesting trend over the past year has been that vacancy rates, in aggregate, haven't increased.

The national vacancy rate trended down from 2.5 per cent to 2.2 per cent over the calendar year, according to SQM Research. 

In Sydney the vacancy rate now appears to have peaked, but Melbourne the vacancy rate continued to rise to 4.7 per cent in December 2020. 


Vacancy rates are tight in most of the second tier capitals, and increasingly so in Perth, Darwin, and Adelaide. 

Sydney CBD was one of the major vacancy hotspots, but lower rents are now filling up the empty apartments, with the vacancy rate dropping from 9.5 per cent to 7.8 per cent in December. 

In Melbourne CBD vacancies declined from 9.1 per cent to 8.7 per cent, according to SQM's figures.