The cost of renting a house has soared by up to 21.2% in Australia’s capital cities, with further rises expected as the national rental crisis deepens.
Over the past 12 months, capital city house rents have recorded price increases of 14.7% while rental units have risen by 11.2%, SQM Research has found.
Brisbane has experienced a 15.2% 12-month combined rental increase, with house rents rising the most, up 21.2% compared with this time last year. Adelaide and Canberra are the next worst hit, seeing a combined increase of 14.3%.
Rental prices for houses in Sydney have gone up 19.1%, while Melbourne unit rents have jumped by 11.5% in the past 12 months.
Lauren Neiland recently decided to move, as she and her partner were expecting their first child and needed to upsize.
They were able to break the lease of their Aspley property, north of central Brisbane, without having to pay fees. Neiland was lucky – her partner had just received a pay rise, and after eight rejections, they secured her “perfect home”.
After moving out, the price of their former rental rose sharply from $420 to $525 a week.
“We kept an eye on the listing out of curiosity to see how much they’d increase it by and was amazed,” she said.
“They said they’d do all these repairs to it that it needed between tenancies but it was leased out the day after the bond clean. So clearly nothing was done.”
SQM Research’s managing director, Louis Christopher, said the rental crisis had worsened in the past month with vacancy rates across Australia falling to just 1% in March, down from 1.2% in February.
It represents half the total number of vacant rentals reported a year ago and is the lowest national rate since 2006, at a time when cost of living is outpacing wage increases.
The number of vacancies Australia-wide now stands at 36,868 properties, with smaller capital cities Hobart and Adelaide worst hit with a 0.3% vacancy rate.
Sydney has a 1.6% vacancy rate, down from 3.4% in March last year, while Melbourne – hard-hit by Covid-19 lockdowns in the past two years – is sitting at 1.9%, down from 4.4%.
“As a result, market rents have exploded,” Christopher said.
“Some of our capital cities and regions are recording [as] asking rental increases in excess of 15% over the past 12 months … and the recent monthly data suggests we are still not at the worst point of the crisis.
“It is likely homelessness will be increasing in this environment. Yet, when I consider the current election stances for the major and minor parties, there is a dearth of specific policy in addressing the issues surrounding housing affordability.”
At the same time, expected relief for regional Australia as Covid restrictions ease and renters return to the cities has not eventuated, with many localities and townships recording zero vacancy rates.
Parts of Ballarat, Gippsland, the Yarra ranges, the Dandenong ranges in Victoria and the Blue Mountains in New South Wales have no rentals available, as do suburbs in Hobart and Adelaide.
Sonja Holness moved to Gippsland in regional Victoria with her family six years ago, when rental prices in the area were just starting to increase.
“We were initially paying $250 a week for a four bedroom house with a decent yard,” she said.
“We now pay $360 for a three bedroom home with no back yard and our landlord sharing the property.
“We’re lucky, average rent here is $450 and above. My town has had a zero vacancy rate since 2018 … when we had to move in 2020 we applied for every property in a 50km radius, and were turned down for every one we applied for.”
Holness says she only secured the property her family is in now as she knew the house was empty, and that the owners lived behind it.
“We knocked on their door and were lucky they gave us a chance,” she said.
“I was five days away from living in a caravan park with my partner and three kids. Things have only gotten worse.
“There are more rentals now but people that rented here for their whole lives can’t afford them. It’s pushing people further out or back to the suburbs.”
Rebecca Goldsmith has been applying for houses throughout regional Victoria since she was told her rental had been sold six weeks ago.
Goldsmith was given a maximum 30 days’ notice to vacate her property, on the border of Victoria and New South Wales.
“I’ve been applying for houses with no luck yet. I’m even applying for houses that are hours away,” she said. “I have three kids, I’m pregnant again and my youngest two are two and under.
“The rental crisis is bullshit.”
Goldsmith said she hadn’t been able to secure public housing, as none were vacant and her area had a significant waiting list.
“Houses … aren’t really in my budget. A three bedroom in my area used to be around $250 a week. Now they are anywhere between $300 and $420 a week.”
