Rents becoming more and more unaffordable

| November 29, 2022

Rents are escalating faster than household incomes across the country, especially in regional areas.

Hobart is the least affordable city in which to rent a home, ahead of Greater Sydney, Greater Brisbane and Greater Perth, the latest Rental Affordability Index shows.

“More and more regional households are struggling to pay their rent and key workers are unable to access housing, especially in the regional areas of Queensland, Tasmania, NSW and Western Australia,” report lead author and SGS partner Emma Witte added.

This includes Lismore, in the northern rivers region of NSW, which has suffered multiple flooding events this year.

“Lismore is one of the worst affected towns, where affordability declined by 10 per cent between 2021 and 2022,” Ms Emma Witte said.

Brotherhood of St. Laurence research director Professor Shelley Mallett said declining housing affordability is threatening the viability of essential services.

“Key workers in fields such as education and healthcare find it difficult to rent in communities they serve,” she said in a statement.

“So to ensure longevity of vital services, there needs to be improved access to affordable housing for staff and policies in place such as caps to rent increases.”

The index is issued once a year by SGS Economics, National Shelter, Brotherhood of St Laurence and Beyond Bank.