Warrnambool landlords exiting market at unprecedented rate

Homeseeka's Peter Herbert said the city and the state were experiencing the worst housing crisis he had ever seen.

He said it had been brought on by the state government.

"The Labor government has created this issue," Mr Herbert said.

"They try and regulate everything, which means more taxes.

"There have been over 130 changes to the act, which has restricted landlords to the point where they are getting out of real estate."

Mr Herbert said rental properties and shares were once considered among the best investments.

"Landlords are saying 'we're sick of the extra restrictions and taxes and being told what we can and can't do to our own properties'," Mr Herbert said.

Mr Herbert said the cost of renting a property in Warrnambool had already increased drastically in the past five years due to a lack of listings.

He said this would get worse as more people sold their investment properties.

Premier Daniel Andrews has raised the possibility of a rent freeze and only allowing landlords to raise the rent once every two years, a move which Mr Herbert said would only result in more people selling their investment properties.

"The government has interfered with free enterprise and created this housing crisis," Mr Herbert said.

"It's only going to get worse.

"Landlords are getting out - they've had enough."

Wilsons agent Lucas Wilson said further restrictions to landlords such as rent freezes were "surface-level" solutions that could end up having a detrimental effect on the issue they were trying to solve.

"My belief is that the rental market's challenges need a well-considered strategy that emphasises increasing housing supply," Mr Wilson said.

"Rental providers are wrestling with all of the same rising costs of living and interest rate challenges as everyone else and policy measures such as a rental freeze that actually disincentivise owning an investment property have the potential to exacerbate the supply issue, either by reducing the number of investors buying properties, or existing investors offloading properties, as we are seeing and has been reported.

"The housing shortage crisis has not eased and there is still huge demand for affordable rental properties."

Mr Andrews on Sunday said all policy options were on the table to improve the state's housing crisis, which has been marked by surging rents, weak supply and vacancy rates of between two and three per cent in both Melbourne and the regions.

"It will represent one of the biggest shake-ups in terms of delivering more housing and more housing choices and options that our state has ever seen," he said.

The premier said there was no doubt there was capacity in the market to build more houses of assorted density and through varying ownership schemes such as build-to-rent.

Responding to a query about lifting the freeze on rent rises from one to two years, Mr Andrews said there was always more to be done.

Victorian Greens renters' rights representative Gabrielle de Vietri was happy to hear the government was considering lengthening limits on landlords.

"Unlimited rent rises should be illegal," she said in a statement.

"With so many renters around the state facing housing stress and homelessness, the government can't delay any longer and needs to act now."

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