Melbourne unit rents have fallen to their lowest point in four years and recorded their steepest annual fall on record in 2020, new data shows.

The median asking price for Melbourne units dropped by $12 a week to $388 in the December quarter, following steep falls in September and June, the latest Domain Rent Report, released on Thursday, shows.

But a two-speed market emerged, with inner-city apartments the hardest hit amid Melbourne’s extended lockdown, while house rents are rising in the south-eastern suburbs and Mornington Peninsula as tenants search for more space.

Melbourne is now the third most affordable capital city to rent a unit, after Adelaide and Perth. It is cheaper to rent an apartment in Melbourne than in Hobart, Brisbane and Darwin, and pricey Sydney and Canberra.

Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said the drop in median unit rents had been driven by steep falls in Melbourne’s inner-city apartment market, where vacancy rates spiked during the lockdown.

The vacancy rate for inner Melbourne was 9 per cent for the December quarter, up from 8.6 per cent in November, and 2.3 per cent in December 2019, on Domain figures.

“Apartments in Melbourne’s CBD have been hardest hit due to the disruption of foreign student numbers,” she said. “Also, obviously, overseas migration and the fact that job losses have hit the CBD hardest.

Source：https://www.domain.com.au/news/melbourne-apartment-rents-drop-to-lowest-point-in-four-years-domain-rent-report-1017965/