‘Afford just 2 per cent of all rentals’: Australia’s rental crisis laid bare
PropTrack has just released its 2025 Rental Affordability Report, and to be honest, it’s not great news, with renters on the whole facing the toughest conditions we’ve ever seen in Australia.
Here’s how the rental market is performing in our major capitals.
You’ve been warned. This story is not going to have a happy ending …
SYDNEY
NSW tenants have been battling the worst rental conditions on record after the share of rental homes considered “affordable” for average income earners dropped to a new low over the past year.
PropTrack’s latest Rental Affordability Index revealed a household on the median income of $116,000 a year could afford just 26 per cent of the rentals listed on realestate.com.au over July to December.
Renters are feeling the pinch in Sydney. Pic: Supplied.
PropTrack noted that this was the worst affordability measure in the 18 years since rental affordability records began in 2008.
Those on $70,000 a year – placing them among the lowest third of income earners – could afford just 2 per cent of the state’s advertised rental stock, the index revealed.
MELBOURNE
Victorian renters are facing the toughest conditions they have in 15 years, with barely half the homes advertised in the second half of 2024 within reach for a typical household.
While PropTrack’s latest Rental Affordability Report has named the state as Australia’s most affordable for tenants when contrasting typical wages with rental costs, it has endured a sharp increase in price pressures on renters.
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Victorian renters are feeling the pressure. Frankly, they’re getting tired of it. Pic: iStock
A typical household was able to afford to rent 75 per cent of homes available across the state in the 2020 and 2021 financial years, without spending more than a quarter of their income on their lease commitments.
For all Victorian rentals advertised over July-December 2024, they could afford 54 per cent. And for low-income earners in the state, less than 10 per cent of rentals were considered affordable.
QUEENSLAND
Rental affordability in Queensland has hit a record low, with less than one-third of rentals within reach for the typical household — the smallest share in nearly 20 years.
Families have been shut out of the rental market as rent prices far outpaced wage growth, making leasing a home “essentially impossible” for low-income earners, according to REA Group’s latest Rental Affordability Index.
The rental crisis has Queensland residents at their wits’ end. Picture: iStock
The report, released today, found a Queensland household earning the median income of $113,000 could afford to rent just 28 per cent of properties advertised on realestate.com.au between July and December 2024.
A household earning the Australian median income of about $116,000 could access 36 per cent of advertised properties.
ADELAIDE
Rental affordability is at its worst level almost two decades, and possibly the worst in the state’s history, with a new report revealing a median income-earning South Australian can afford just one quarter of all advertised rents without putting themselves in financial trouble.
PropTrack’s Rental Affordability Index 2025 shows rental affordability has never been as bad in the 18 years it has been collecting data for, and paints a dire picture of the state’s rental market.
In SA, a median income earning household ($95,200) can afford to rent just 20 per cent of all homes advertised over the 18 months to December 2024 – meaning four out of five advertised rentals were out of reach.
The situation was no easier for Adelaide residents. Pic: iStock.
The calculations are based on households spending a maximum of 25 per cent of their pre-tax income on rent.
Households at the 70th percentile of income – $150,000 – could afford to rent 88 per cent of all properties advertised last year, while, most concerningly, households at the 30th percentile of income – those earning $58,500 a year – could afford to rent just 2 per cent.
