Capital City Tenants Paying $75 a Week More Than Year Ago

Tenants in Australia’s capitals have been forced to find an extra $75 a week on average to pay the rent in the past year.

According to the latest PropTrack Market Insight Report, median advertised rents in the capitals reached $625, which was up 13.6 per cent for the past year.

Renters in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth endured the steepest increases.

Nationally, rental prices jumped 9.1 per cent in the year to March, 2024 to $600 a week.

Across the first quarter of 2024, national rent prices jumped 3.4 per cent, the second strongest first quarter performance behind 2023 on record.

Rental price pressure was felt most in Perth (up 15.5 per cent), Melbourne (13.1 per cent) and Sydney (10.8 per cent) among the capitals, with median advertised rent prices reaching $635, $560 and $720 respectively.

Brisbane (flat) and Adelaide (0.9 per cent) had some respite during the quarter after sustained rent growth since the pandemic.

Houses (up 16.1 per cent) and units (up 19.2 per cent) in Perth had the greatest annual median rent price hikes of the capitals, with renters paying an extra $90 for houses and $95 for units.

The median advertised rent across regional areas reached $520 in March, growing by 4 per cent for the quarter and 6.1 per cent for the year to March.

Regional WA had the largest quarterly (up 4.3 per cent) and yearly (14.3 per cent per cent) growth of the regions.

PropTrack rental prices March quarter 2024

▲ Source: PropTrack

“Advertised rental prices rose substantially in the first quarter of 2024, up 3.4 per cent compared to 1.8 per cent in the previous quarter,” a PropTrack spokesperson said.

“But the first quarter, when many are searching for new rentals, is traditionally strong.

“Looking at the longer-term, we continue to see rent growth moderate, with a 9.1 per cent increase during the past year, the slowest result since December, 2021.

“Rent pressure remains firm in most capitals but there has been some noticeable slowing in Brisbane and Adelaide, which has had little growth over the past three months, providing welcome respite from the rapid rent increases since the pandemic.”

They said while rent growth was slowing, rental market conditions remained very tight, with vacancy rates at record lows.

“This is likely due to strained affordability as weekly rents have increased $180 nationally since the pandemic.

“This suggests continued affordability pressures for renters in 2024.”