A new study has found almost 100,000 homes are vacant in Melbourne, enough to support those who are homeless and on the social housing waitlist.
One in 20 homes were unoccupied last year, according to the report published by independent think-tank Prosper Australia, who used residential water usage across 200 postcodes to collect the findings.
Of the 97,681 homes deemed vacant, about 27,408 were completely empty while another 70,453 were barely used.
The largest increase in vacancy was seen in the City of Melbourne, which almost tripled to an estimated 10,000 empty homes.
The suburbs with the highest vacancy rates of all were Burwood, Box Hill, Malvern, Hawthorn and Glen Waverley.
“All LGAs, bar Mornington Peninsula, saw their vacancy rates increase by about 20 per cent or more,” the report said.
These figures surged off the back of a pandemic exodus, which saw foreign students and workers leave the state to return home.
And now, while thousands of homes sit empty, an estimated 48,620 applicants are on the social housing waitlist and 30,000 people across the state have no home, the report said.
“If vacant homes were all put out for rent, the rental stock would be almost 20 per cent larger,” the report said.
