Overview
- Perth retained the worst affordability ranking with median rent at roughly 32% of rental household income and the largest annual decline, down 4%.
- SGS reports Perth rents have surged more than 90% since 2020, reversing earlier gains and shifting the market from steady to spiralling.
- Regional Western Australia hit its weakest affordability in more than a decade and recorded the steepest annual fall among all areas, down 5%.
- Sydney’s east, lower north shore and northern beaches have no suburbs deemed affordable, forcing many renters to look up to 20 kilometres from the CBD.
- The index shows severe strain on low- and middle-income renters in Sydney, with JobSeeker recipients needing 131% of income for rent and hospitality workers at 42%, as advocates press for social housing scale-up, rent caps and tighter short-stay rules while NSW readies a mid-December response to key worker housing recommendations and Byron Shire reports 191 fewer non-hosted short-stay dwellings.