‘It’s never going to happen’: three in five Australian renters expect to never own a home as steep rents hit

Half of the rent increases in the past 12 months have been more than 10% and one in six more than 25%, a survey from Better Renting has found. Photograph: Glenn Hunt/AAP

Kyle Ward wants to own a home. He and his wife have been saving hard, living in a cheap rental in Ipswich, south-east Queensland, for three years. Paying $365 rent a week, they were saving everything they could.

Ward, 36, earns $68,000 a year and his wife, 34, is a carer for her mother. She gets the pension – just over $1,000 a fortnight.