Rental affordability has worsened in the past year, hitting its lowest level since at least 2008, when records began, according to the realestate.com.au Rental Affordability Index.
Rental affordability is toughest in New South Wales, though most other states are not far behind. Victoria stands out as the only exception – rental affordability actually improved in the past year, and Victoria is the most affordable state for renters. While Victorian rental affordability is materially worse than it was in 2021-22, it has not deteriorated as sharply as other states.
While affordability is currently at a record low, the decline in the past year has been modest, with improving affordability in Victoria partly offsetting declines elsewhere. The declines in affordability across other states were not as sharp as in recent years. This is due to rent price growth slowing down from the extremely rapid pace set in the early 2020s.
There are some signs this may continue, as rental availability appears to have improved over 2025 in most capitals, and rent growth, while still solid, has slowed from the peaks seen in 2022 and 2023. However, rental affordability will remain very challenging in the year ahead.
This report quantifies the challenging state of rental affordability across the country, highlighting the challenges faced in particular by lower-income renters.
Read the full report here: realestate.com.au Rental Affordability Report - 2026
After years of rental prices surging, further growth in rents in the past year mean that renters across Australia are now facing the worst level of rental affordability in two decades.
The realestate.com.au Rental Affordability Index shows that, in the six months from July to December 2025, households across the income distribution could afford to rent the smallest share of advertised rentals since at least 2008, when our records began.
While rent growth has slowed compared to the pace recorded a few years ago, it has still outstripped income growth in the past year, worsening already challenging rental affordability.
This alarming and deteriorated state of rental affordability is a significant change from the conditions renters faced towards the end of the 2010s and the early 2020s.
Rental affordability had been gradually improving throughout the 2010s as rents increased at a slower pace than incomes, reaching a high point nationally in 2020-21. This was in part due to rent falls in Sydney and Melbourne in the initial stage of the pandemic. However, those rent falls at the start of the pandemic were not experienced in all parts of the country. Many smaller states and regional areas experienced strong rental demand, rent increases and worsening affordability from the early stages of the pandemic.
For more, including analysis of why affordability has declined, see: realestate.com.au Rental Affordability Report - 2026
Highlighting how challenging rental affordability is for many households, a household earning the median (or typical) income in Australia of $124,000, could afford just 37% of rentals advertised on realestate.com.au over July-December 2025. This share is unchanged from 2024-25, with growth in incomes offset by increases in rents.
This low share of affordable rentals represents a substantial decline from the far-more-favourable affordability conditions seen as recently as five years ago. At peak in 2020-21, a median-income household (then earning about $97,000) could afford 60% of advertised rentals, and 55% in 2021-22, the highest and equal-second-highest share on record, respectively.
Even relatively high-income households earning about $190,000 a year — the top 30% of Australians — have seen rental affordability decline from what was typical in the late 2010s and into the early 2020s. A household at the 70th income percentile could afford 86% of advertised rentals in 2025-26, a slight improvement from the 85% they could afford in 2024-25. This share varies across states: from as high as 93% in Victoria to 78% in New South Wales.
For more, including analysis of affordability for low income-renters, see: realestate.com.au Rental Affordability Report - 2026
Rent growth has remained firm over the past 12 months, which has worsened rental affordability.
Between the December quarter of 2025 and 2026, median advertised rents nationally increased from $620 to $650, just shy of 5% growth. That was enough to offset income growth and see affordability deteriorate further.1 Even so, that’s the slowest rents have grown across a calendar year since 2020. In 2024, median advertised rents were up 7%, in 2023 they were up 12%, and in 2022 they grew a staggering 16%.
Years of rapid rent growth mean advertised rents nationally have surged since the pandemic, from $420 at the start of 2020 to $650 today – an increase of 55%.
While all parts of the country have seen substantial increases in rents, growth has been particularly strong in Western Australia. Perth rents have nearly doubled since the start of the pandemic, increasing from $360 per week at the start of 2020 to $700 today. Brisbane and regional Queensland have also seen very strong growth, with weekly median advertised rents increasing by $270 and just over $280, respectively. Rents are also up in Adelaide, having increased 60% since the start of the pandemic.
Incomes have not kept up. From 2019-20 to the first half of 2025-26, median household income has increased 33%, far below the pace of rent growth.
For more, including state-by-state analysis, see: realestate.com.au Rental Affordability Report - 2026
