‘Scope for exploitation’: investors eye rooming house conversions amid Melbourne rental crisis

The Melbourne CBD seen from the city’s west. Many property investors in the city are asking questions about converting their existing properties to rooming houses. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian

Late last year, outside a house in Melbourne’s inner-west, an auctioneer tried to drum up some interest.

The suburb is sought-after by families looking for a home within easy access of the CBD, but the agent had other investors in mind.