Revealed – the top 10 regional areas facing the highest rent increases

Everybody’s Home, a national campaign formed by housing, homelessness and welfare organisations, has released new analysis highlighting the sharp increase in rental prices seen across Australia.

According to the analysis, the surge in rents is particularly evident in Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria, and South Australia, where some regional areas have seen double-digit percentage hikes over the past year. Moreover, regions most severely impacted by the increases have seen weekly rents climb by at least $37, and as much as $133.  

Listed below are the top 10 areas facing the highest rental percentage increases over the past 12 months:

1. Central Queensland with a 21.8% increase ($77)
2. Goldfields Region, WA, 21% ($93)
3. Central Coast, WA, 20.8% ($74)
4. Northern WA, 18.4% ($133)
5. South Western Victoria, 17.3% ($77)
6. South West WA, 16.8% ($83)
7. Southern Queensland, 16.7% ($67)
8. Queensland Far North Coast, 12.5% ($54)
9. Eyre, SA, 12.5% ($37)
10. Western Victoria, 12.1% ($47)

Government must push “ambitious plans” to solve rent crisis

Commenting on these findings, Maiy Azize (pictured above), of Everybody’s Home, underscored the urgency of addressing the housing shortfall in regional Australia.

“A lack of affordable housing has flow-on effects for the liveability of regional areas,” she said. “Long-time locals are being driven out of their communities. Essential workers are struggling to find a place to live. An extra 227,000 social homes need to be built in regional Australia just to meet the demand of today. That need for housing is expected to grow within the next 20 years. “

Azize also spoke about the National Regional Housing Summit, which was held in Canberra last Friday.

“The regional housing summit is an important opportunity to keep the rental crisis conversation alive but there’s only so many times governments can be told of the same solutions,” said Azize. “It’s time for governments to start acting on more ambitious plans to improve housing affordability across the country.”

These “ambitious plans” should include spending more on social housing, ending investor handouts, and stopping “unfair rent increases,” according to Azize.

“Australian taxpayers have never spent so much propping up the private rental market, yet housing has never been so unaffordable,” she said further. “The housing system is out of balance because of government policy decisions - government action must fix this before it gets even worse.”

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