Australia’s rental affordability hits record low: Get a closer look using housing.id and views.id

Rental affordability in Australia has hit its lowest point on record, according to REA Group’s 2025 report powered by Proptrack. While the COVID pandemic marked a turning point, the severity of the crisis varies by state—NSW remains the least affordable market, and WA has seen rents surge by 80% since 2020.

In this article, our housing expert Crystal McDonald explores the latest Proptrack data and demonstrates how our housing.id tool and Community Views Service offers a deeper look at how affordability challenges are playing out at the local level—and how councils can use this evidence to inform action.

REA Group, powered by Proptrack, have released their rental affordability report for 2O25, confirming what many already know to be true; the lowest levels of rental affordability since REA records began.

The COVID pandemic remains to be the pivotal point of decline in the affordability story, but the impact varies greatly across states.

The report states that New South Wales still takes the podium for the least affordable rental market in the country, where as in Western Australia median rents have grown 80% since the onset of COVID, bringing WA to it’s worst level of affordability on REA records.

At .id (informed decisions) we utilise Proptrack data to provide further analysis on housing affordability for councils via our housing.id tool.

Looking at some of our NSW and WA clients’ confirms that things are pretty tough in their respective rental market, especially for low-income households, and some key worker groups. In Blacktown City Council NSW for example, in the 12 months to June 2020 a low-income household could afford 64% of rental listings but only 37% in June 2024.

In regional NSW, Snowy Monaro Regional Council (SMRC), local Housekeepers for example – one of the top 10 occupation groups in the LGA at the 2021 Census, and a critical one in this tourism destination – could afford 47% of all rental listings in the 12 months to June 2021 (without going into housing stress), whereas in the 2024 year this drops drastically to only 7%. Similarly, Waiters working in the LGA could afford 77% of rental listings in SMRC in the 12 months to June 2021 but only 26% in 2024.

The REA report shows that rents have increased more in WA since 2020 than any other state. In Greater Perth, the median rental price increased by $290.

With the help of our housing.id tool, our clients in WA, such as the City of Canning shown below, are able to take this a step further. Here we can see that in this same time-period, rental prices in Canning have actually increased more than the state average for most rental properties, with the exception of entry-level houses and entry-level units which have increased at a slower rate than the state average.

Our Community Views Service can deepen this story even more by proving a measure of community sentiment on affordable decent housing; how much they value it, and how their experience has been in accessing it.

In Canning, renters identify ‘access to affordable decent housing’ as the second most important thing they look for in a good place to live – considerably higher than those with a mortgage or those who own their home outright.

Renters tend to report poorer experiences with accessing affordable decent housing in their local area, compared to those owning their home (either outright or with a mortgage). Renters in Canning rated their experiences an average of 5.3 out of 10 compared to the average of 5.8.

Although it’s true that councils have little ability to directly impact the private rental market, there are plenty of things that council can do to influence better housing outcomes, and they all rely on building a core understanding amongst staff, council and community that is informed by solid evidence.

How .id (informed decisions can help)

Our housing.id tool and Community Views Service can help councils measure, monitor and communicate their housing story to gain the understanding and support required to effect change.

Take action toward better housing outcomes:

• Learn more about our housing.id tool and Community Views Services. 
• Watch our housing.id and views.id tools in action here.
• Request a copy of our recent webinar on Council’s role in influencing affordable housing outcomes here.
• Read the full REA Report here.
• Contact the team to learn more or book a demonstration.