Aussie cities where rents are up to $17k a year higher than in 2020

Australia’s rental crisis could be even worse than previously thought, with alarming figures revealing rents have climbed by more than three times the rises in the average Aussie’s pay over the last five years.

The PropTrack data laid just how much of a struggle it has been for tenants to keep up, with nationwide rents rising by $10,920 annually since June 2020. In the capitals, rents rose by $11,180 a year on average.

Meanwhile, the average Aussie’s pay has only gone up by about $3,000 in that time, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

And that’s full-time earnings, not taking into account the wide range of people working part-time and those who are unemployed.

PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty.

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PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said she was surprised by the degree of rent growth since 2020.

“What really jumps out is the magnitude of the increases we’re seeing and how much of people’s incomes are being spent just on the cost of rent,” she said.

Ms Flaherty said the rental crisis came down to the central issue of low housing supply and high demand for rental properties.

“There’s a whole multitude of factors for why demand for rental properties has increased,” she said.

“Obviously population growth is a massive factor.

“But another factor is that it’s taking longer and longer to save a deposit to buy your first home, which means people are being trapped in the rental market longer.”

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Rents in Perth have grown the most in Australia since 2020. Picture: iStock.

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Perth experienced the highest annual rent growth since 2020, with renters forking out an extra $16,640 a year.

REIWA President Suzanne Brown said the major imbalance between supply and demand in WA saw the vacancy rate fall to record lows and put “strong upward pressure on prices.”

“This has been very challenging for tenants,” Ms Brown said.

“We have seen some self-moderation of demand as tenants seek to cope with rising prices.

“This includes an increase in tenant household sizes to share the cost burden of renting, tenants electing to buy where possible and people simply choosing to stay in the family home longer or moving back in with family to avoid the rental market.”

Mr Brown said that even though the WA rental market was improving, state and federal policymakers “could not afford to be complacent” when it comes to rental reform.

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A crowd queues for a rental inspection in Bondi in February, 2024. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone.

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Greater Sydney and Brisbane experienced the second highest growth for capital cities, with rents increasing by $13,000 a year since 2020.

Meanwhile, rents in Melbourne grew by $8,580 a year, almost half that of those in Perth.

Ms Flaherty attributes this imbalance to Melbourne’s higher housing supply and density pre-Covid, which allowed Victoria’s capital to accommodate for post-pandemic population growth.

“This is incredible evidence on the impact that higher supply has,” she said.

“One of the reasons why rent growth and home price growth has been slower is because Greater Melbourne has been relatively better than the other capitals at building new homes.”

Melbourne’s rental growth was slower than other capitals. Picture: Getty Images.

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Ms Flaherty said it would be some wait before rent figures started to slow around the country.

“Our expectation is that it’s going to fall short in the coming years in most markets,” she said.

“We don’t think that the pace of rent growth we saw over 2022-2023 is going to be repeated, however it’s very unlikely we’re going to see rents move backwards as a whole.

“Having said that, we are seeing differences in different markets.”

ANNUAL RISE IN MEDIAN ADVERTISED RENTS (JUNE 2020-JUNE 2025)

Source: PropTrack.

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