May 7, 2026


100,945 Melbourne homes are sitting empty or underused right now. 31,890 of them haven't had a single drop of water run through the pipes in an entire year. Not one shower. Not one flush. Meanwhile, 24,000 Melbournians are sleeping rough.

Yeah, nah — this is genuinely cooked.

A renter on Reddit described 74 people registered for a single inspection — giving them a 1.35% chance of getting the place. Another submitted 30 applications and got knocked back every time. And one couple offered 12 months' rent upfront — $27,560 cash, guaranteed — and the landlord still said no. Then relisted the property for less. The maths doesn't maths, mate.

Here's why. Victoria's land tax threshold sits at $50,000 — twelve times lower than New South Wales at $1,075,000. Stack land tax, body corporate fees, a 6% mortgage, and 130-plus compliance reforms on top of each other, and thousands of landlords decided empty is cheaper than rented. The Victorian Government built a Vacant Residential Land Tax to fix it and empty homes went up 16% in a single year. Sensational policy work, that.

And while we're sitting here with 100,000 dark windows, New Zealand's rents actually fell 3.2% in 2025 — because they built enough homes. Canada's rental vacancy hit 4.5% nationally. Melbourne's? Still stuck at 1.4% and falling.

Same hemisphere. Completely different planet.

Bobby. wrote Yesterday at 2:44pm:


They have a plan Bobby, raise the taxes and rents are sure to fall.

Labor has got to do something -
they invited millions of people here when
there was nowhere for them to live.

Millions more are on their way here.     

Bobby,is this your daily commute