Anglicare research reveals average rent in Bankstown $520 per week
A minimum wage job won’t cut the mustard with Sydney’s high rents, Anglicare’s rental affordability research has revealed.
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A minimum wage job won’t cut the mustard with Sydney’s high rents, Anglicare’s rental affordability research has revealed.
The annual research discovered less than one per cent of rental homes in Sydney’s southwest were appropriate and affordable for households receiving government payments.
Anglicare Sydney’s rental affordability snapshot reviewed more than 14,000 properties available in greater Sydney and the Illawarra on the first weekend in April. From those properties, only 30 were affordable and appropriate for households on income support payments without placing them into rental stress.
Rental stress occurs when more than 30 per cent of a household’s income is spent on rent.
For Bankstown that equates to $299 a week from the median household income of $998.
The state’s average rental affordability is $371 from the median household income of $1237.
Canterbury is a little better off than the rest of the southwest affording almost $380 a week in rent. Its median household income is $1266 a week.
Minimum wage recipients are in an even glummer position.
A single parent with one child on Newstart Allowance can only afford $146 a week on rent without “stressing out”. A single age pensioner’s rental threshold is $150 a week.
House hunting in Sydney’s southwest, realestate.com.au has a handful of one-bedroom options for under $250 a week but the moment you want two, three or four bedrooms you’ll need $350 and above.
Anglicare Sydney’s advocacy and research manager Sue King said urgent action was needed by governments, community and business sectors to alleviate the worsening rental stress.
“For the first five years we have seen a decreasing number of properties available for people on low incomes,” Ms King said. “The lack of private rentals affordable for single people and families struggling on either benefits or the minimum wage is a serious concern.”
With a growing number of people requiring support, Ms King said it was a serious concern.
She said the end result was people often spending more than 50 per cent of their low income on rent. This has a dominoes effect on paying bills, affording electricity or having enough cash to get groceries.
She said there were two groups of people facing significant rental stress — single people on low incomes and ageing renters.
“There is very little affordable for single people on low incomes,” she said.
“Living on your own receiving benefits or on the minimum wage and trying to pay rent in Sydney generates stress, anxiety and the risk of homelessness.
‘Ageing renters are also increasing in number and their housing future looks bleak as the pension.”
Average rents
Carramar $375
Cabramatta $400
Canley Vale $420
Liverpool $440
Fairfield $450
Yagoona $500
Wiley Park $515
Bankstown $520
Condell Park, Punchbowl $530
Bass Hill, Campsie $550
Clemton Park $560
Canterbury $600