Tasmania

Hobart’s rental affordability has improved over the past year - but with a RAI score of 96, remains the only capital city in Australia where rental affordability for the average income household is below the critical threshold of 100. The average rental household in Greater Hobart is paying around 31 per cent of its total income on rent. However, lower-income households living in Hobart have to fork out a much higher proportion of their income to afford a roof over their heads:

• Single person on JobSeeker: 43 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Single pensioner: 50 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Pensioner couple: 40 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Single part-time worker parent on benefits: 35 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Full-time hospitality worker: 24 per cent of income on rent (moderately unaffordable)

Victoria

Renters on low-incomes, such as pensioners and people on JobSeeker, are facing severe to extreme rental stress despite Melbourne’s improving affordability. Over the past year, affordability has improved across Greater Melbourne by 8.9 per cent – which has almost entirely been driven by the decline in rents caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rents remain unaffordable for lower income households in Melbourne, for example:

• Single person on JobSeeker: 56 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Single pensioner: 65 per cent of income (extremely unaffordable)
• Pensioner couple: 45 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Single part-time worker parent on benefits: 40 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Full-time hospitality worker: 31 per cent of income (unaffordable)

Affordability in regional Victoria has marginally improved during the last 12 months, with rents remaining just within acceptable levels. The average household seeking to rent in regional Victoria faces spending about 24 per cent of their total income on rented property. Fringe area commuter cities and towns such as Woodend, Torquay and Ocean Grove are moderately unaffordable to unaffordable. Regional centres such as Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Shepparton have experienced a gradual decrease in affordability.

New South Wales

Despite rental affordability across Sydney improving in the past year, the NSW capital remains critically unaffordable to significant a proportions of the renting population, especially very low and low-income households. Greater Sydney’s affordability is the highest recorded over the past eight years, improving by 5.7 per cent in the past 12 months – which has almost entirely been driven by the decline in rents caused by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the only city which has shifted from moderately unaffordable to acceptable rents. Despite the lower rental rates, the difference for very low-income households is negligible, as they still face severely unaffordable rents across Sydney.

Lower-income households have to fork out a high proportion of their income to afford a roof over their heads in Greater Sydney:

• Single person on JobSeeker: 69 per cent of income (extremely unaffordable)
• Single pensioner: 79 per cent of income (extremely unaffordable)
• Pensioner couple: 53 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Single part-time worker parent on benefits: 47 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Full-time hospitality worker: 35 per cent of income (unaffordable)

Regional NSW is the second least affordable rest of state area, with an RAI score of 124, behind regional Tasmania (114). The average household seeking to rent in regional NSW would face rent levels at 24 per cent of its total income. Rents, therefore, remain acceptable to affordable across regional NSW. Households moving from the city to regional centres may adversely impact affordability.

Australian Capital Territory

Canberra’s rental affordability has stabilised in recent years. However, low-income households still face particularly unaffordable rents. Many areas across the central city and inner suburbs have improved moving from unaffordable to moderately unaffordable over the last 12 months. However, this has made very little difference to low-income households who still face severely unaffordable rents across Canberra. For those on higher incomes, the ACT offers acceptable rents, but for those on low incomes, it’s a different story. For example, renting would cost the following groups:

• Single person on JobSeeker: 64 per cent of income (extremely unaffordable)
• Single pensioner: 74 per cent of income (extremely unaffordable)
• Pensioner couple: 52 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Single part-time worker parent on benefits: 45 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Full-time hospitality worker: 37 per cent of income (unaffordable)

The COVID-19 pandemic, and subsequent restrictions, did not impact the ACT as heavily as Victoria and NSW. It has therefore not experienced the same downward pressure on rents as Melbourne and Sydney.

Queensland

The cost of renting in many parts of Brisbane continues to ease. With an RAI score of 129, Brisbane is considered acceptable, with the average household paying 23 per cent of its total income if renting at the median rate. However, lower-income households have to fork out a much higher proportion of their income to afford a roof over their heads:

• Single person on JobSeeker: 53 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Single pensioner: 61 per cent of income (extremely unaffordable)
• Pensioner couple: 42 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Single part-time worker parent on benefits: 37 per cent of income (unaffordable)
• Full-time hospitality worker: 31 per cent of income (unaffordable)

Affordability has fluctuated in regional Queensland over the past 12 months, seeing a slight improvement during the second quarter of 2020. With an RAI score of 123, its level of rental affordability is less than its metropolitan counterpart. The average rental household is facing rents at 24 per cent of its total income.

Western Australia

Rental affordability in Perth has remained stable but rents are not affordable across the board and renting remains unaffordable for lower-income households. With an RAI score of 145, the average rental household in Greater Perth faces rents costing about 21 per cent of their total income. While this is considered acceptable, rental property remains much less affordable for lower-income households:

• Single pensioner: 65 per cent of income (extremely unaffordable)
• Single person on JobSeeker: 56 per cent of income (severely unaffordable)
• Pensioner couple: 38 per cent of income (unaffordable to severely unaffordable)
• Single part-time worker parent on benefits: 33 per cent of income (unaffordable)
• Full-time hospitality worker: 30 per cent of income (unaffordable)
  

The geographic spread of affordability across greater Perth remains uneven. While most areas in the city have acceptable of better affordability, coastal and south western suburbs remain moderately unaffordable to unaffordable. Regional Western Australia has also recorded a slight decrease in affordability from an RAI of 157 to 155. Following rapidly improving affordability between 2014 and 2017, the trend of the past three years suggest that affordability has stabilised.