‘As useless as gumboots on pelicans’: Qld’s dire rental market revealed

Tenants in nearly 400 Queensland suburbs are officially ‘rent stressed’, with the winners and losers of the state’s rental Hunger Games revealed.

Tenants in nearly 400 Queensland suburbs are officially ‘rent stressed’, with exclusive new data showing renters are being forced to fork out up to 120 per cent more now than they were just 12 months ago.

The Courier Mail has obtained the complete dataset for the inaugural Rental Pain Index by Suburbtrends, and it paints a dire picture of the state’s rental market with a whopping 383 suburbs recording a rental pain index of 50 or above.

Renters inspecting rental property in Kedron. Picture: Richard Walker

“Generally, 50 is the value for the pain score where I see things getting pretty bad for renters,” Suburbtrends founder Kent Lardner said.

“Queensland is the hardest-hit state, with 86 suburb groups reporting a Rental Pain Index of 75 or higher. NSW follows with 62.

“South Australia and Western Australia each have 39 high-pain suburb groups, which is also a significant concern.

“Victoria and Tasmania show fewer, with 22 and six high-pain suburb groups respectively. “These figures reveal the severity and breadth of rental pressure across Australia, with Queensland and New South Wales standing out as particularly challenging markets for renters.”

Suburbtrends founder Kent Lardner

Queensland’s most rent stressed locale is Stanthorpe with a score of 91 out of 100 based on factors such as the percentage of advertised rentals, vacancy rates, average 12 month rental increases and the average rent as a percentage of income.

The sleepy Granite Belt town shares the unwanted top spot for rental pain with Strathalbyn in South Australia, with nine Sunshine State suburbs featuring in the national top 25 toughest markets.

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This Stanthorpe house is listed for $575 a week

They included Warwick (87), Chermside (85), Beaudesert, Boonah, Upper Coomera North and Southport North (85), Walkervale/Avenell Heights and Beenleigh (84).

A townhouse in Chermside is listed for $650 a week

In terms of income-versus-rent payments, the analysis revealed that tenants in Noosaville and Coombabah are handing over 58 per cent of their household income to landlords, followed by Runaway Bay (57%), Mermaid Waters 56%), Bribie Island (55%) and Tewantin (54%).

But even renters in traditionally more affordable suburbs are feeling the hit to the hip pocket, with tenants in places such as Woodridge (38%), Gympie South (40%), Merrimac (42%) and Redcliffe (44%) paying out more than 35 per cent of their income.

Public spaces in major cities are being taken over with tent cities as rent rises push people out of housing, with people living in tents and cars across the state. NewsWire / Sarah Marshall

The data also revealed the places where tenants looking to put a roof over their heads might be better off perusing an Anaconda catalogue than a real estate window, with the vacancy rates effectively zero.

Atherton and Crows Nest have essentially no vacancies, and posted rental pain scores of 82 and 63 respectively.

Warwick is Qld’s second most rent stressed suburb, with this house listed for $520 a week

Vacancy rates were also grim in Gatton (0.1%), Wambo, Annadale and Boyne Island-Tannum Sands (0.2%) or Everton Park, Deeragun-Jensen, Condon-Rasmussen, North Toowoomba-Harlaxton, Kingaroy, Yorkeys Knob-Machans Beach and Hyde Park-Pimlico (0.3%).

Meanwhile, vacancy rates have declined the most in Rochedale-Burbank (-2.8%), Burleigh Heads (-2.6%) and Palmwoods (-2.4%) in the past 12 months.

A healthy rental market has a vacancy rate of 2.5 per cent or higher, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.

Vacancy rates are grim in Yorkeys Knob. Picture: Brendan Radke

Of the 416 Queensland suburb groups analysed, just 43 were considered healthy markets but based on the other metrics, more vacancies don’t necessarily translate to less pain.

Even with a vacancy rate of 5.1 per cent, Rochedale-Burbank has a pain score of 55 per cent.

Meanwhile, house renters in Eagle Farm-Pinkebah have seen the biggest hikes over the year, up 120 per cent to $1100 a week in a year, while Chapel Hill unit renters are paying 107 per cent more now than a year ago.

Omar Suarez is one of many sleeping in cars and tents due to the rental crisis. Pictured in his car at Everton Park in Brisbane. Photo Steve Pohlner

At the other end of the spectrum, Mount Isa has the lowest pain score of 7 per cent based on an annual rent increase of 1 per cent, an income-to-rent ratio of 19 per cent and a vacancy rate of 3.3 per cent.

From there, the pain scores ratchet up to 25 per cent in Broadsound-Nebo and 27 per cent in Moranbah.

Mr Lardner said regions like the Gold Coast were experiencing significant pain across the board.

“Particularly in suburbs like Upper Coomera North and Southport North, with both experiencing Rental Pain Indices of 85,” he said.

“The situation is similarly severe in suburbs like Labrador, Arundel, and Varsity Lakes, where high rent-to-income ratios highlight the affordability challenge.

“Pervasive high pain scores, even in suburbs like Pacific Pines-Gaven with an index of 75, suggest widespread rental stress across the Gold Coast region.”

This Southport house is listed for $1250 a week

Mr Lardner said that while capital cities had the largest number of high-pain suburb groups, the reality was that rental distress was more widespread.

“In fact, the majority of the pain is being experienced outside these metropolitan areas.,” he said.

“It’s a nationwide concern, deeply felt in both city and regional areas, underscoring the widespread nature of the challenge facing Australia’s rental market.”

But Propertyology head of research Simon Pressley said the housing crisis was not a “one-off”, and had been debated for over a century.

Head of research at Propertyology, Simon Pressley. Supplied.

“First home buyers, upgraders, renters and investors, everyone is fed up with the numerous challenges linked to housing in this country,” he said.

“The problems are not new. And those who suggest that we simply need to build more homes merely amplify the widespread lack of understanding for meeting the housing needs of humans.

“We have decades of proof that politicians are as useless as gumboots on pelicans.”