Melbourne's "dog box" apartments will be targeted by new design rules banning windowless bedrooms and living areas, but the Andrews government has chosen not to introduce minimum dwelling sizes.

The draft design standards have been released alongside research showing 60 per cent of apartments recently constructed in Melbourne were of low quality.

High Australian household debt may discourage the RBA from hiking interest rates in 2017, warns Citi. Credit:Penny Stephens

Planning Minister Richard Wynne said some of the city's high-rise units were not fit to live in and failed to provide adequate natural light, fresh air and storage.

A number of developers had told him they had built apartments even they were not "particularly proud of".