7 in 10 suburbs showing rental pain
Even with moderate easing in rental price increases, there’s still a long way to go to curb the current accommodation crisis.
The latest Rental Pain Index by Suburbtrends for September 2024 has revealed that even with reduced rental price increases across some areas, Australia’s rental crisis remains “far from resolved”.
The percentage of areas undergoing rental pain has remained at 68 per cent over the month, according to Suburbtrends, stating many regions are “still experiencing extreme rental stress, exacerbated by low vacancy rates and a shortage of affordable rental stock”.
Suburbtrends’ report said the top 20 local government areas (LGAs) in regions such as Queensland and South Australia have maintained Rental Pain Index (RPI) scores over 80, demonstrating high levels of rental stress.
According to the report, lower rental increases have done “little to alleviate the risk of homelessness”, especially in areas reporting vacancy rates of below 1 per cent.
Kent Lardner, founder of Suburbtrends, has cautioned against viewing slower price growth as an indicator of improvement.
“The slowing pace of rental increases does not mean the crisis is over – it simply means the pressure has shifted slightly, but the overall stress on renters remains severe,” he said.
Even with slower rent increases, Lardner said rental affordability in several LGAs still requires well above 30 per cent of household income, and stressed “the core issue is not just the rate of rental growth, but the fundamental lack of affordable housing options”.
“It’s not just about numbers; it’s about people at risk of losing their homes,” said Lardner.
“The RPI data shows that the risk of displacement and homelessness is still very real. Families are being priced out, even in regions where rents aren’t rising as fast. The system continues to fail those who need stable housing the most.”
In response to these shortages, Suburbtrends highlighted organisations such as Sydney Anglican Property (SAP) and Anglicare which are “leveraging their underutilised land and buildings to provide long-term affordable housing solutions”, and have reportedly made a bid to build 1,000 affordable rental dwellings under the federal government’s Housing Australia Future Fund.
Lardner stressed “public policy needs to align population growth with housing supply”, but nonetheless commended the combined initiative from the SAP and Anglicare because it offers “immediate, community-focused solutions that can help ease the crisis in the short term”.
“What we need now is for these efforts to be scaled, and for broader policy changes to support sustainable, affordable housing development,” he concluded.