By Robert Carry
South-west Victoria is witnessing an unprecedented decline in available rental properties as supply struggles to keep pace with area's rapidly increasing population.
According to reports in The Standard, the number of vacant homes plunged by more than 50% in the past 12 months thanks in part to a rapidly growing population and a flood of workers employed at major projects like the Mortlake gas-fired power station.
According to City property manager Tim McNally, Warrnambool's rental market was becoming extremely tight. "A healthy rental market operates on a vacancy rate of about 3%. That means you have good supply and good demand. But for the past three years Warrnambool has been operating on a vacancy rate of 1%."
However, other areas around south Victoria are also struggling with Port Fairy, Mortlake and coastal areas east of the city also hit by sky-rocketing rental demand.
