HUNDREDS, if not thousands, of people at risk of homelessness will gather outside strangers’ front doors across Melbourne this month.

More people search for a rental property in January than in any other month, according to rental trends data to be released today by realestate.com.au.

Melbourne’s average rental rate has risen in recent years.

In October 2005, tenants paid $277 on average to rent a house and $258 for a unit, based on RP Data statistics.

By October last year, average rental rates had jumped to $361 for a house in Melbourne and $326 for a unit. That’s an increase of about 33 per cent in three years.

Caroline James from the Herald Sun has written an interesting article which can be viewed here: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24868648-5013926,00.html

Paul