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Rent rises are outpacing wages growth, making much of the nation unaffordable for many people. (Dan Peled\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n Rent rises are outpacing wages growth, making much of the nation unaffordable for many people. (Dan Peled\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
Australian households on less than six-figure incomes are struggling to make rent for a typical capital city house, underscoring the depth of the nation’s housing affordability challenge.<\/p>\n
To afford the median rental house, a household must earn more than $112,000 a year – a 51 per cent increase compared to 2019 – according to a report released by property listings marketplace Domain on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Before the pandemic, the income required to fall below the standard benchmark of rental stress – spending more than 30 per cent of income on rent – for a median house was $74,533.<\/p>\n
Rents have since outpaced growth in incomes, making large swathes of the nation unaffordable for many renters.<\/p>\n
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\n Individuals earning less than $100,000 are unable to afford rents in most capital cities. (Lukas Coch\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
That has resulted in lower living standards for renters and made it harder for employers in many suburbs to find essential workers.<\/p>\n
Across the capital cities, a two-person household earning average wages would spend 21.1 per cent of their income renting a typical home.<\/p>\n
The data demonstrated a particular challenge for people on a sole income, with individual earnings sitting around $80,2000 on average, Domain senior economist Joel Bowman said.<\/p>\n
“So for those single-income renters, it can be quite a struggle to be able to rent a typical-priced house in most of these markets,” he told AAP.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Sydney’s rental market is the most challenging, with $135,200 a year required to afford a median house and $130,000 for a typical unit.<\/p>\n
While there remain some pockets of affordability in the outer suburbs – like in Willmot, where an individual on an annual income of $84,933 can afford the median weekly rent of $490 – the incomes needed for more ritzy locales closer to the CBD are astronomical.<\/p>\n
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\n The median rental nationally is more than 50 per cent higher than five years ago, data shows. (Darren England\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
To live in Australia’s least affordable suburb – Vaucluse – renters must be raking in a household income of $511,333 per year.<\/p>\n
Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide have all experienced strong growth in rents since 2019, with the median house now accounting for more than 21 per cent of a typical household income across all three cities.<\/p>\n
Perth had the largest relative rise of any city, with house rents only taking up 13.9 per cent of median income in 2019.<\/p>\n
According to property data firm Cotality, the median rental nationally was $671 a week in September – 53.3 per cent higher than the same time five years earlier.<\/p>\n
Over the same period, median incomes increased by just 20 per cent.<\/p>\n