Renting a mid-priced unit in any of Australia’s capital cities now costs more than half a typical single worker’s take-home pay, spurring advocates to urge Labor to offer renters more protections.
New modelling shows someone earning $70,000 – close to the median annual income – would have to spend two-thirds of their earnings if they wanted to rent the median Sydney apartment.
Everybody’s Home, a housing advocacy group, released the analysis in its latest “Priced Out” report amid a political debate over rent hikes and the Albanese government’s tax reforms.
Liberal MPs seized on National Australia Bank and Ray White modelling to claim the reforms would add 30% to rents, though both companies have clarified they were not making forecasts.
Labor’s budget in May predicted its reforms would add less than $2 a week to the median rent.
Maiy Azize, a spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, said rents had been rising well before the budget’s reforms were revealed, with the median rent up nearly $50 since March 2025.
“Our rental crisis isn’t a new phenomenon or a policy shock,” Azize said. “Rents have been running away for years, with the pain spreading well beyond people on low incomes.”
The report compared median rents in different cities to a range of income levels. The median apartment rent is typically close to the median rate for a two-bedroom flat, according to the SQM Research data cited in the Everybody’s Home report.
Adelaide was the most affordable capital city with rents of about $550 a week, the report found. That would still cost a worker more than 50% of their take-home pay, at $1,097 a week, if they were on a pre-tax annual income of $70,000.
Sydney’s median unit rent, at about $756 per week, would cost 69% of their pay, up from 65% in March 2025.
Perth and Darwin, at about $669, would cost 61% of their pay. Brisbane rents would cost 59% and Melbourne 55%.
People are considered to be in housing stress, with greater risk of financial difficulty, if their household income falls in the bottom 40% but they spend over 30% of that on housing. The report shows a single person on $70,000 a year would fall into housing stress if they rented out a flat in any of the capital cities.
Regional Australia is no longer an affordable alternative, with median rents in most regional centres surpassing $330 a week – more than 30% of income for a worker on $70,000.
A person earning $40,000 a year would have to spend 80% or more of their weekly income for a typical rental in any capital city.
Even someone on a $130,000 salary would have to spend 40% of their income for the median Sydney rental.
The report urged the government to focus its next housing reform efforts on renters, calling for limits on rent increases and new minimum standards for rental properties.
“The federal government has shown that it can take action to help people buy their first home; now it must help everyone afford to rent one,” Azize said.
It also called for rapid construction of new social housing, homes rented at a fixed proportion of the tenant’s income.
The report follows the Australian Council of Trade Unions on Wednesday launching a campaign to double the standard rental lease to two years and build more public housing.
The outgoing ACTU president, Michele O’Neil, said public housing should make up one in every 10 new homes built, up from current rates of just one in 50.
“Our housing system should reflect the reality that millions of working people are renters,” O’Neil said.
