By RISHABH CHAKRAVORTY 

Students are being harshly affected by a  sharp increase in Melbourne rental prices, with Melbourne showing the highest increase in apartment rents across the country, at 3.9 per cent.

Melbourne also recorded the second-highest increase in house rent per week in Australia at 2.4 per cent, according to the quarterly report published by Domain.com.

That pushes the increase in house rents to 5 per cent for the past year. 

More than half a million students from all over the globe come to Australia as full-time students according to Department of Education and Training. Most of those international students in Melbourne come from Asia.

A steep rise in the rent in accommodation options in Melbourne is a cause for concern for international students, with rent dropping in other Australian cities, such as Perth and Brisbane. Rent dropped by 7.5 per cent in Perth, compared to a year ago.

Moses Looi, an international student from Malaysia who currently shares a three-bedroom flat with other roommates in Melbourne, is looking for a cheaper option. 

“I would like to move to a house because the rise in rent is lower in units as compared to houses,” he said.

An Indian student studying in Melbourne said an increase in rent would mean he would have to work more hours, which he is not allowed to under visa rules. 

There is a cap of 40 hours work per fortnight set by the Department of Immigration of and Border Protection on International Students. 

“If the rent goes up by $25 to $50, it will put some burden on me, but availability of jobs and maybe more working hours should solve the problem," the student said.

"Some of the restrictions on the number of hours should be waived in case the rent goes up. That way things can be levelled.”

The marginally dropping value of the Australia dollar is a cause for relief to international students funded from Asia.

Domain.com’s chief economist, Andrew Wilson, said there could soon be some easing in the rising prices. 

“I am positive that the pressure on rent rise will ease with home building in Melbourne and other state capitals in Australia,” he said.

However, despite a record level of construction of housing projects in Melbourne, the trend for rent is still going up.

In a recent tweet, Mr Wilson emphasised the bullish housing market in Melbourne,  with those conditions usually adversely affecting renters.

Metropolitan Melbourne has almost 80 per cent of all rental transactions in Victoria.

Melbourne has won the coveted accolade of being named the Most Liveable City by the Economist Intelligence Unit since 2011.