Rental affordability is at its worst point since 2015. The report provides insights into how rental affordability impacts different places and household types, with a particular focus on low-income households. 

The Index profiles ten low to moderate income household types, including pensioners, single parents, student sharehouses and hospitality workers to demonstrate the rental situation for different income groups, age demographics and household compositions. The report measures, “critically unaffordable rents,” to address the urgent challenges renters face in finding affordable housing. This measure indicates the severity of the housing crisis as well as the difficulties vulnerable people encounter in securing housing.

The findings of the report underscore the need for interventions to increase the supply of affordable housing options, improve income support and regulate the private rental market.

Key findings

• Rental affordability has declined in most Australian cities since 2015. 
• This decline is particularly pronounced in Greater Perth and Greater Sydney, now the least affordable capital cities.
• The COVID-19 pandemic initially led to some improvements in affordability in major cities, but this trend has reversed since 2021. Affordability in most cities is now at its worst point since the RAI was first published in 2015.
• Regional areas, which saw an influx of residents during the pandemic, have also experienced a decline in affordability. Regional Queensland is now the least affordable rest-of-state area.
• Low-income households are disproportionately affected by the rental affordability crisis. 
• For a single person on Jobseeker, rent is severely unaffordable to extremely unaffordable across all metropolitan and regional areas. 
• For a single pensioner, rent is critically unaffordable to severely unaffordable in metropolitan areas and extremely unaffordable to Unaffordable in regional areas.
• Nationwide, the proportion of households renting is rising, having increased from 26% to 31% between 1995 and 2020. 
• Housing costs for renting households have also increased over the same period compared to homeowners: renters spend an average of 20% of their income on housing costs, while homeowners with a mortgage pay 15.5%.