Hobart and the regions suffering most rental stress, report reveals

12:40pm Nov 29, 2022

Rental affordability has crashed in all of Australia's capital cities but no one is doing it tougher than tenants in the regions, a new report has found.

According to the just-released Rental Affordability Index (RAI), Hobart remains the country's least affordable city, thanks to a prolonged period of rapidly rising rents.

Brisbane has hit a historic low point for affordability, the report noted, and the Queensland capital is now considered moderately unaffordable.

A view across Hobart in Tasmania. — Hobart remains the least affordable city for renters in the country (Adobe Stock)

It showed an 11 per cent decrease in affordability levels over the past year, the highest decline of any capital city.

Queensland recorded a population growth rate of 1.8 per cent in the 12 months to March, twice the national average and the highest of all state and territories.

The report noted rents in Perth had risen significantly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and tenants were facing very tough market conditions.

Greater Sydney, Greater Melbourne, Greater Adelaide and the ACT all declined in affordability this year, following slight improvements during the coronavirus pandemic.

The RAI uses a 30 per cent of income rule.

If an individual or home pays 30 per cent or more of their income on rent, they are deemed to be in a situation of rental stress.

This means those households have insufficient funds to pay for other primary needs such as food, medicine, transport and heating, the report said.

Swimmers at Scarborough Beach in Perth — The beautiful Scarborough Beach in Perth. The city has become increasingly more expensive for renters since 2020. (Adobe Stock)

Federal MP Andrew Wilkie called the RAI "a very important report".

"It helps us to understand just how bad the housing crisis is in this country and how it is going from bad to worse," he said.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw the rental crisis spread to the regions, when many households left urban centres.

This year's severe floods also significantly impacted affordability in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales.

Lismore is one of the worst-affected towns, where affordability declined by 10 per cent between 2021 and 2022.

Bellingen was similarly affected, with affordability declining by 14 per cent.

A boat moves up Brisbane River. — Greater Brisbane has hit a historic low for affordability. (Adobe Stock)

"More and more regional households are struggling to pay their rent," Ellen Witte, the report's lead author, said.

Key workers, including nurses and teachers, were struggling to access housing in the regions, Witte said, especially in NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia.