Gary, Giri, Mitchell,12, and Jayden, 15, Thomas are renting in Vermont South which has had rapid rises in rental costs — but they’ve found a way to dodge the hikes. Picture: Jake Nowakowski.

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Gary and Giri Thomas jumped through hoops to get their feet on the Melbourne property ladder, finally managing to buy a place in Clyde.

But they don’t live there.

The location does not suit the family, so the couple and their sons Mitchell and Jayden are “rentvesting”, living as tenants in Vermont South while they save to buy a home there – hopefully with the help of climbing property values in Clyde.

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Mr Thomas said he was in a unique position of being both a landlord and a tenant. Despite a typical renter in the area forking out up to 28.8 per cent of their income on rent, he felt overall the rental system in Victoria was fair.

“I don’t have a problem with the rental system, being a good tenant and having a good relationship with your landlord I think has an influence on your rental experience,” he said.

“The landlord my family is dealing with is fantastic – I do a lot of work on the house to update it to a higher standard, and we’ve been lucky they haven’t increased the rent for three or four years.”

Lifestyle is a key factor to the Thomas family renting, with parklands, sport facilities, transport options and shopping centres nearby. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

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However, Mr Thomas said the family did believe one key change was needed to help Aussie tenants — making more of the nation’s large numbers of currently vacant residences available to renters.

“When we are in a rental crisis that shouldn’t be the case,” he said.

Lifestyle is a key factor to the Thomas family renting, with parklands, sport facilities, transport options and shopping centres nearby.

“The ideal goal is to keep the property in Clyde and purchase a house here in Vermont South,” Mr Thomas said.

“I am hoping our property in Clyde increases in value enough to allow in equity to buy around here.”

Their dream will also require more saving, as PropTrack figures show the median price for a home in Clyde was $680,000 at the end of May.

It is currently less than half that of Vermont South’s $1.5m typical house value.