Rents surge across Australia as gap between city and regional prices shrinks

1 month ago 22

Just $80 now seperates the median weekly rent across Australia’s combined capital cities and regions, with two regions recording eyewatering double-digit growth over the past 12 months.

To put that in perspective, $80 will now get your roughly 37L of petrol at the bowser thanks to the ongoing showdown in the Middle East, or a modest basket of groceries courtesy of the cost of living crisis.

The latest Market Insights Report from realestate.com.au shows the median weekly asking rent for houses and units combined across the capitals is now $680 a week, while in the regions it is now $600.

There are now five capital cities (Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Darwin and Canberra) and one regional area (regional WA) where an average house will set you back north of $700 a week.

Darwin? What the? Photo – Getty Images

Just $50 now seperates the country’s two most expensive house markets – Sydney ($800) and Perth ($750), with the latter recording 7.1 per cent grown over the past 12 months.

What $750 will get you now in Perth

But it was Brisbane, which currently has a median house rent of $700 a week, that saw the biggest year-on-year growth, up 7.7 per cent on the back of continued migration.

But there is a small sliver of hope for the River City, which recorded 1.8 per cent growth for over the last quarter for house rents, while unit prices remained flat at $650 a week over the same period.

Brisbane, and southeast Queensland as a whole, has been a magnet for migration. iStock

Perth posted the biggest increase over the quarter, with house rents up 4.2 per cent and units up 6.1 per cent.

“Across capital cities, the median weekly advertised rent was up 4.6 per cent over the quarter, to sit at $680 per week – a jump of $30 per week relative to the December quarter,” the report said.

“This follows a period of stability for capital city rents, after they sat at $650 per week throughout 2025 (though some cities did see increases).

“Growth was fairly consistent across the capital cities, with all cities recording rent growth over the quarter.

“In the past year, Perth, Darwin and Hobart have seen the strongest growth (+7-8%), while Melbourne and Canberra saw the slowest (+2-3%).”

$700 a week will get you this house in Stafford, a suburb of Brisbane

Regional rents grew even faster, posting growth north of 4.3 per cent, the report revealed.

Meanwhile, unit rents rose more quickly than house rents over the quarter, up 3.1 per cent across capital cities and 1.8 per cent in regional areas.

During the last quarter, unit rents rose the fastest in regional South Australia (+7.6% to $355), regional Tasmania (+7.1% to $450) and Perth (+6.1% to $700).

Aerial of Hobart harbor and marina in Tasmania

Hobart has been a strong performer

Just $50 now seperates the median rent between houses and units in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

In Melbourne, the difference is just $20.

Across the combined capital cities, that falls to just $10.

And it is not much better in regional areas, where the difference across all regional markets is just $40 – $600 for houses and $560 for units.

REA Group senior economist Angus Moore said that rent growth remained solid, up 4.6 per cent in the past year across the capital cities.

“While still firm, rent growth remains below the peak levels seen in 2022 and 2023, as somewhat improved rental availability, as well as strained rental affordability, has slowed the pace of rent increases,” he said.

“Looking ahead, the slight improvement in rental availability should see the more modest pace of rent growth recorded over the past 12 months continue throughout the rest of this year.”

Mr Moore said regional Queensland median rents (houses and units combined) were now $680 a week, making it the most expensive regional market in the nation alongside regional Western Australia.

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REA Group senior economist Angus Moore

The report comes after SQM Research revealed that Australia’s national residential vacancy rate fell to just 1 per cent in March, down from 1.1 per cent in February.

The total number of residential vacancies declined to 31,732 dwellings, marking a continued tightening in rental market conditions nationwide.

The cities with the lowest vacancy rates were Hobart (0.5%), Perth and Adelaide (0.6%), Darwin (0.8%), Brisbane (0.9%), Sydney (1.3%) and Melbourne and Canberra (1.5%).

During March, just 93 rental dwellings were available in Darwin and 121 were available in Hobart.

Sydney (8469) and Melbourne (7549) had the highest rental vacancy pool, while Brisbane maintained one of the tighest rental markets in the country at just 0.8 per cent and 2662 available properties.

SQM Research director Louis Christopher

SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said that the national vacancy rate dropping to just 1 per cent highlighted just how tight Australia’s rental market has become. “We are now seeing vacancy rates at critically low levels in several cities, particularly Perth, Darwin and Hobart,” he said.

“While some markets are showing brief pauses in rental growth, the overall trend remains upward due to the ongoing imbalance between supply and demand.

“Without a significant increase in new housing supply and/or a stabilisation of population growth rates, it is likely that rental pressures will remain elevated throughout 2026.

“These accelerated rates of rental increases will no doubt feed through to the CPI at some point this year.”

RENT CHANGES – ALL DWELLINGS

City/region – median weekly rent – QoQ – YoY

Sydney $780 +2.6% +4%

Melbourne $590 +3.5% +2.6%

Brisbane $680 +1.5% +4.6%

Adelaide $620 +3.3% +4.2%

Perth $730 +4.3% +7.4%

Hobart $590 +2.6% +7.3%

Darwin $680 +4.6% +7.9%

Canberra $640 +1.6% +2.4%

Capital cities $680 +4.6% +4.6%