Rents have increased to more than half the average single-income take-home pay. (ABC News)
Housing advocacy group Everybody's Home has found renting a unit now costs more than half the median take-home pay of a single worker in every Australian capital city.
For someone earning $70,000, median Sydney rent would take 69 per cent of their weekly pay, while even Adelaide — the cheapest capital — would cost more than half their pay.
The advocacy group is calling for more social housing and limits on rental increases.
The average apartment now costs half of the average Australian income to rent, with prices exceeding the 30 per cent housing stress mark even for six-figure earners, according to a new report.
Housing advocacy group Everybody's Home has found renting a unit now costs more than half the median take-home pay of a single worker in every Australian capital city.
The 2026 Priced Out report found apartments on average nationally cost $614 per week, making up 56 per cent of the take-home income of someone earning $70,000 — close to Australia's median income of $74,100.
Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said this was a "crisis that continues to get worse for the country's renters".
"We now see people earning really high incomes are still spending more than a third of their income on rent. If you are earning $130,000 a year, you are still spending more than a third on rent," she said.
"If you are earning an average income between $70,000 and $80,000 and living in a capital city, you are spending two-thirds of your income to afford the average rent.
The report found northern WA, the Gold Coast and Sydney were the three most expensive places to rent, followed by the Sunshine Coast and Perth.
"For a long time Sydney was ground zero for the crisis and it is still really bad news, shocking if you are a renter in Sydney," Ms Azize said.
"This year one of the most expensive… capital cities in the country is Perth and WA across the board has some really dire results.
"The Gold Coast has been surging every year that we have done this report and it is getting expensive to rent on the Gold Coast, even if you are earning $130,000 a year, you can't afford to rent on the Gold Coast. You would need to be in a couple or a multi-income family to make that work."
The report found, for someone earning $70,000, median Sydney rent would take 69 per cent of their weekly pay, while even Adelaide — the cheapest capital — would cost more than half.
