Five Wyndham suburbs have been named among the top 20 “tenant-friendly” areas within a commuting distance of Melbourne’s CBD, with Hoppers Crossing taking out the number one spot.
The RentRabbit.com.au website, which allows tenants to review and compare rental properties, released its Tenant Opportunity Report last week (Thursday, January 27).
The quarterly report states that it “has found the top 20 Melbourne rental markets for tenants who have average salaries and want to live in good areas”.
The report contains data from property research consultancy Suburbtrends Research, covering the 12 months to January 2022.
To ensure the suburbs in the report were suitable for families, only rental houses were considered, not units or apartments.
All the areas within the top 20 have a median weekly rent of $410 or below and are located within 40 kilometres of Melbourne’s CBD.
The report ranked Hoppers Crossing in first place with a median weekly rent of $350, followed by Wyndham Vale with a median weekly rent of $355.
Derrimut, also in the western suburbs, placed third with a median weekly rent of $380 – the same median weekly rent as fourth-placed suburb Pakenham.
Tarneit came in fifth with a median weekly rent of $390 and Truganina ninth, with a median weekly rent of $400.
Point Cook was ranked eighteenth, with a median weekly rent of $410.
Other suburbs and towns in the top 20 included Epping, Mill Park, Sunbury, Bacchus Marsh, Narre Warren, Reservoir and Keilor Downs.
The report excluded suburbs and towns if their SEIFA score was lower than four.
The Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) rating is used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to ranks areas according to socio-economic advantage and disadvantage.
The ABS divides the nation into 10 different SEIFA categories, with 10 per cent of most disadvantaged areas placing within division one.
RentRabbit.com.au co-founder Ben Pretty said life could be tough for rental tenants.
“Vacancy rates are low in many parts of Melbourne and landlords are responding by jacking up rental rates,” he said.
“I really feel for tenants who are being forced out of their homes and suburbs, especially when they have kids who are forced to change schools.”
