Renters continue to face an uphill battle despite a slight improvement in the national vacancy rate, however there are some pockets where listing volumes have surged.

New PropTrack data shows a slight increase in the number of homes available for rent in March, with the national vacancy rate increasing 0.04 percentage points to 1.11%.

But conditions remain extremely tight for renters with fewer vacant rental homes than a year ago, while over the past four years the number of vacant homes has fallen by 58% across the capital cities and 47% in the regions.

PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan said tenants face difficult conditions across the country.

“There’s very little available rentals really anywhere across the country at the moment," Mr Ryan said.

"There’s very few markets with a vacancy rate above 3%, which is what we consider a more balanced market.”

But new data has identified a select few pockets where renters may have a better chance of finding a home, with listings sharply higher compared to a year ago.

According to PropTrack, the Victorian town of Shepparton saw the largest increase in new rental listings year-on-year, with a 92% rise in new rental properties coming onto market.

The southern Brisbane suburb of Greenslopes ranked second with an 81% rise in new property listings, while Collingwood (79%) in Victoria, Coomera (73%) in Queensland and Sydney's Granville (66%) rounded out the top five of suburbs with the largest rises in new rental listings.

Top ten suburbs with the largest increase in new rental listings

While the annual growth rate appears high, Mr Ryan cautioned that the figures were big increases on what was a small starting number of rental listings in the suburbs to begin with.

“These are isolated pockets where rental availability has gotten a bit better, but overall across every market across the country we are seeing conditions continue to be really tough,” he said.

Bree Graham from Youngs & Co Real Estate Shepparton said the rental market remained tight in Shepparton, with anywhere from 50 to 60 applications when a new rental hits the market.

“There is a huge demand for people that are moving to the area,” she said. “For our agency, we are sitting at a 3% vacancy rate."

The number of rental listings in Victoria's Shepparton has almost doubled year on year. Picture: realestate.com.au

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The demographics of people seeking rental properties in Shepparton was wide ranging, Ms Graham said.

“We've got a lot of doctors that have moved to the area, there is quite a large hospital here so we do get quite a lot of doctors (and) young couples … obviously it’s quite hard to buy your first home so there are a lot more first-home buyers that are now being forced to rent to begin with.”

Students and CBD workers were snapping up rental properties in Sydney's Granville, according to Hadi Chaker from Laing+Simmons Granville.

“Two inspections that really stood out to me, we had 175 people attend an inspection and that went $60 (per week) above the asking price, and another one had 189 people at the first inspection,” he said.

Properties in close proximity to the Granville station, were in particularly hot demand by young professionals who worked in the CBD, he said.

Rental properties near the train station in Granville in Sydney's west remain in high demand despite a sharp lift in listings. Picture: realestate.com.au

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PropTrack's Mr Ryan said the top 10 list of suburbs where rental listings have grown could be a useful starting point for tenants on the hunt for a property.

“I think any of these suburbs are useful for tenants because it points them in the direction of location where there might be a bit more availability, and I think it's pretty clear that renters have had to start searching further and wider to find rental accommodation in this current market,” he said.

Mr Ryan said there were some signs of investor activity responding to rent growth.

“I think its symptomatic obviously of what we are seeing in the broader market of low rental availability and strong rent growth is bringing more investors into the market,” he said.

“And that's one of the key pathways that we see this rental crisis easing over the longer term, is more investors encouraging more construction and providing more rental accommodation.”

Lending data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, released Monday, found new home loans issued to investors rose 1.2% in February to sit 21.5% higher year-on-year.

But vacancy rates in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth all remain below 1%, according to PropTrack.

Adelaide has overtaken Perth to become the most difficult capital city to find a rental property. Picture: Getty

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Additionally, rental affordability is at its worst level in at least 17 years, when records began.

The findings from PropTrack revealed rental affordability was the toughest in New South Wales, Tasmania and Queensland, but on the other end of the scale, Victoria is Australia’s most affordable state for renters.