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Thirty-three postcodes with a high number of holiday homes were removed from the data set. Low-utilisation homes are considered to use less than 50 litres of water per day over a year, enough for gardening or minor leaks. The average daily water use for a single-person household is 200 litres.
In Box Hill, Houston and Wattle Park, 11.1 per cent of properties are vacant, while in Burwood, Bennettswood and Surrey Hills South, 11 per cent are vacant.
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The report said the increase in the number of vacant homes highlighted the extent to which Victoria’s housing supply was fuelled by speculation, including a federal tax system that favoured capital gains over rental income.
“It’s not surprising that many investors prefer the flexibility of a vacant property,” said Dr Tim Helm, director of research and policy at Prosper Australia.
The report also accused developers of developing large amounts of land when house prices were at their highest to maximize profits. A practice known as “land banking”.
The report noted that based on average household size, the vacant homes could theoretically house 250,000 people. By comparison, there are 48,620 applicants on Victoria’s social housing waiting list, and Prosper said if all vacant homes were rented out, Melbourne’s rental stock would increase by nearly 20 per cent.
This year, the waste of empty homes was pushed into the public domain Melbourne tenants’ rights activist Jordan van den Berg – better known by his online username @purplepingers – sparked controversy by posting addresses of vacant homes online for people to live in.
Van den Berg said he was not surprised by the report because its contents “matched” addresses he had collected through crowdsourcing, including at least 33 vacant homes in the Brunswick area, which he said were mainly “rotting” independent workers’ cottages.
He said he only published addresses of properties that were not for sale or rent and did not have valid planning permits. He received death threats as a result but made no apology.
“I think it’s ridiculous that there are houses but no one is there while there are people who are homeless, especially in the midst of a cost of living crisis,” he said.
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Since 2018, the state government has imposed a vacant residential land tax on properties in inner and middle ring suburbs that are empty for six months of the year. From 2025, the tax will apply across Victoria at 1 per cent of the value of capital improvements to the land, increasing by one percentage point every year the property is empty.
From 2026, the policy will also apply to Melbourne metropolitan area residents who have Not yet developed At least five years, as part of an effort to encourage faster development of land. Seeking Intelligence For vacant properties.
A Victorian government spokesman said the government was cracking down on vacant properties.
He said the government was “piloting enhanced compliance” this year – auditing every home in inner and middle Melbourne, rather than relying on voluntary reporting from owners.
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Mr Helm said while this approach would discourage people from leaving properties empty or leaving land unused, a better approach would be to tax all land equally and encourage its most efficient use, including faster development and lower taxes on buildings.
“A vacancy tax is welcome, but if we are to find a lasting solution to tackling speculation we must seriously consider shifting more tax revenue to land through a broad-based land tax and value capture,” Hulme said.
The Prosper Australia report also argues that local councils should levy rates based on the value of their land rather than the value of their property. Replace stamp dutyIt has also been blamed for exacerbating the housing affordability crisis.
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