Cheap Melbourne rentals vanish amid unit investor sell-off

Renters in units are more likely to be evicted by their landlord wanting to sell if they own a unit. Victorian tenants are facing a grim roulette wheel of being evicted over unpaid rent or ousted by landlords who want to sell up or move into the home themselves. Real Estate Industry Partners figures released today have shown 37.8 per cent of notices to vacate are coming through for tenants failing to pay their rent, and almost a quarter because the landlord wants to sell or move into the home. Alarmingly, while for houses the data skews heavily towards tenants being unable to keep up with rental payments with 54 per cent being shown the door for that reason, for units the share of tenants facing eviction so the landlord can sell or move in has surged to 45.4 per cent in the year from August, 2025, to July, 2026. RELATED: Investor exodus from Victoria resumes after federal budget Data exposes acute rental shortage leaving entire Victorian councils with almost no homes Melbourne renters face $31,200 annual bill as $700 suburbs surge A year ago it was the reason for less than a third of evictions for units. With a high probability sold homes are going to first-home buyers, given Austr...