Renters vs Buyers: Who Moves More in Melbourne
Table of Contents
It’s the last Saturday of the month. A house removals truck idles on one street. Two doors down, a family is hosting a barbecue in the garden they’ve tended for fifteen years. Same suburb. Same weekend. Very different relationships with moving.
Almost one in three Victorian households now rent, and renters are more likely to move in any given year than owners. But the full story has a twist. Australians overall are moving less than they used to, so why do the boxes keep piling up on Melbourne’s footpaths?
In this blog, we’ll look at who really moves more, renters or buyers. We’ll find out why owning a home is getting harder, how rising rents are changing our moving habits, and whether renting is real freedom or just a lease on borrowed time.
We’ll also show you how a good removalist can take the stress out of the move, no matter which side of the fence you’re on.
Ready? Let’s start with the numbers.
The status of housing mobility in Melbourne
Melbourne’s housing market is shifting. The 2021 census-based Renting in Victoria snapshot found that almost one in three Victorian households rented. Around 28% of households in metropolitan Victoria rent, and the share is higher in inner suburbs.
Movement within the city is also rising. University of Queensland researchers found local moves in Melbourne grew by 9.5% between 2011 and 2016. The researchers linked this partly to falling home ownership, since renters are generally more mobile than owners.
So Melburnians aren’t leaving the city. They’re moving around it, and more often.
Why the decline in house ownership?
Buying a home in Melbourne is harder than it was for our parents. Here’s what’s behind it:
- Purchase prices have raced ahead. Research from the e61 Institute points to rising house prices, not rising rents, as the bigger pressure on young Australians.
- Rent eats into savings. Renters struggle to build a deposit while paying high weekly rent.
- More young people are sticking around at home. Nearly a third of the total drop-off in mobility can be attributed to the extended stay at home of 18- to 24-year-olds.
- Interest rates add pressure. Increased borrowing costs reduce the purchasing power of consumers.
The result? 25- to 44-year-olds are renting rather than owning, and since renters tend to move more than owners, that makes sure the removalists Melbourne stay busy.
Victoria’s Renting Commissioner notes that it’s no longer only for young people, and the fastest-growing group of renters are older and diverse. That shift matters for one reason. Renters and owners don’t move at the same pace.
Why do renters move more?
They do, and the research is detailed. The e61 Institute finds that renters move more than owners.
It comes down to how renting works:
- Lease endings. Fixed terms create natural exit points.
- Rent increases. Higher rent can push a household toward a cheaper place.
- Landlord decisions. Owners sell, renovate, or move back in.
- Changing needs. A new address is often needed with a new job, a baby, or a housemate.
Renting vs owning: how they compare
Costs aren’t the only thing pulling people in different directions. Here’s how the choices stack up:
| Renting | Owning | |
| Costs | Upfront costs are lower, but rent can increase at each renewal. | Initial cost is high (deposit and stamp duty), followed by regular payments. |
| Lifestyle | Ability to change suburb to reduce your travel distance. | Stability and a place to settle, but moving is a bigger project |
| Security | A landlord is free to terminate or refuse renewal of a lease | Staying or moving is entirely your decision |
The pattern is clear. Renters tend to gain flexibility at the expense of security, while owners gain security at the expense of flexibility.
And this group is growing. Australians as a whole have become less mobile in recent years, but in the 25–44 age cohort, mobility is being ‘bought’ by opting to rent. But how is this flexibility being traded? How can all this mobility be quantified – in a general sense? Here’s a look at the freedom factor.
Freedom factor
Is renting really so much freer? In many ways, yes.
Location. Research shows that homeowners are approximately 15 percentage points less geographically mobile than private renters. It’s all to do with costs – not just the obvious cost differential. It comes down to the trade-off between staying and going, in which the costs of moving outweigh the costs for the owner. Buying and selling properties involve the payment of stamp duty and other fees, which economists are almost unanimous about being a deterrent. Moving is relatively less costly for tenants. Tenants have the option to live close to their place of work. They may want to be nearer to their loved ones, or even wish to move to a different suburb without any strings attached.
Career flexibility. AHURI found that lower mobility makes it harder for owners to respond to shocks like redundancy. When a job does call, renters can follow it without selling first.
Financial flexibility. Buying takes a deposit plus stamp duty, which can add roughly $40,000 to $55,000 on a home priced between $800,000 and $1 million.
Owners have stability. Hence, they tend to move for big life events. But freedom has a flip side. Rent can rise, and a landlord’s plans can force a move at the worst time. Neither choice is better. It comes down to what you value.
How have moving companies made rental moves easy for Melburnians
Moving is stressful whether you rent or own. Here’s where they help most for your house removals:
- Tight timelines. Renters often have only a few days between leases. A reliable crew keeps you on schedule.
- Predictable costs. For two movers and a truck, it can cost roughly $180 to $480 per hour locally.
- Fewer injuries. Lifting and carrying is a leading cause of serious workplace injury claims in Australia, according to Safe Work Australia. Trained teams use the right equipment to protect your belongings and your back.
- Houses and apartments. Heavy furniture, stairs, lifts and loading docks are all part of the job. Local know-how makes them easier.
Renting or Buying, Plan Your Move
Melbourne moving trends tell a simple story. As ownership gets harder, more people rent, and renters move more. More frequent local relocations are anticipated. People will make shorter stays. One can expect house removals to be busier.
Rent vs buy in Melbourne: everything is dependent on your savings, future goals, and how flexible you want to be.
So, Ready to move? Get a quote from Team Removals at the earliest
References:
Commissioner for Residential Tenancies. (2024). Renting in Victoria: 2024 snapshot. Victorian Government. https://www.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-04/Renting-in-Victoria-Snapshot-2024.pdf
e61 Institute. (n.d.). Understanding Australia’s decline in housing mobility.
https://e61.in/understanding-australias-decline-in-housing-mobility/
Gurran, N., Hulse, K., Dodson, J., Pill, M., Dowling, R., Reynolds, M., & Maalsen, S. (2021). Urban productivity and affordable rental housing supply in Australian cities and regions (AHURI Final Report). Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. https://doi.org/10.18408/ahuri7320001
Memmott, Paul & Long, Stephen & Thomson, Linda & Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute & Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. Queensland Research Centre 2006, Indigenous mobility in rural and remote Australia: final report, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, [Melbourne].
https://snapshot3.dev.eait.uq.edu.au/filething/get/2034/MobilityFinalReport.pdf
Whelan, S., and Parkinson, S. (2017) Housing tenure, mobility and labour market behaviour, AHURI Final Report No. 280, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited, Melbourne,
https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/280, doi:10.18408/ahuri-7307101.
Making Renting Fair in Queensland Campaign – Safe Homes and Fair Conditions | The Deck. https://thedeck.org.au/resource/sector-initiatives/making-renting-fair-in-queensland-campaign-safe-homes-and-fair-conditions/
