Rental Affordability Index 2023 paints dire picture of housing stress in Greater Hobart, regional Tasmania
An alarming new study has painted a bleak picture of Hobart’s rental affordability woes – and it’s revealed that people are finding it increasingly difficult to find sanctuary in the regions.
Tasmania
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The average Tasmanian renter must look to the state’s northwest in order to find an affordable place to live in 2023, but even Burnie and Devonport are now considered moderately unaffordable, according to an alarming new report.
Released on Tuesday, the annual Rental Affordability Index (RAI), produced by National Shelter, the Brotherhood of St Laurence and SGS Economics and Planning, has reaffirmed that Hobart renters are facing the harshest conditions in Australia – and the rest of the Tasmanian market is quickly catching up.
The study, which cross-references incomes against rents to create a price index for housing rental markets, found that the median rental rate in Hobart had ballooned by a massive 60 per cent since 2016.
While rents have remained stable in the city over the past year, its median rent is now only 4 per cent lower than Melbourne’s, despite Hobart’s annual rental household income being 21 per cent lower than the Victorian capital’s.
Hobart remains the equal least affordable capital city alongside Sydney.
The average rental household income in Greater Hobart is $86,491 per annum. In regional Tasmania, it is $72,428.
The RAI shows that the average rental household in Greater Hobart is paying about 29 per cent of its income for a dwelling at the median rate, while those in the rest of Tasmania are paying about 28 per cent.
The generally accepted definition of housing stress is when housing costs exceed 30 per cent of a low-income household’s gross income.
Shelter Tas CEO Pattie Chugg said the 2023 RAI was “shocking but not surprising” and that Tasmanians were being pushed “right to the brink of homelessness”.
“People on low incomes such as pensioners, those on income support or part-time workers, have it the worst, living in dire housing stress and too often are facing the threat of homelessness,” she said.
“Regional communities that used to offer some respite now have surging, inescapable rents.
“Housing and homelessness services are overwhelmed with requests for help and often can’t keep up with demand.”
Ms Chugg called for a commitment from the Tasmanian government to make 10 per cent of all housing stock in the state social or affordable.
For people on average incomes, almost all parts of Greater Hobart and Launceston were considered either moderately unaffordable or unaffordable.
The report found that households on an average income were forced to consider moving to the northwest just to find acceptable to affordable rents, although the regional centres of Burnie and Devonport were now classified as moderately unaffordable, further limiting options for renters.
In the regions, rents in places like Swansea and Orford rose from acceptable to moderately unaffordable in the past year.
The RAI identified the likely cause of growing rents in Tasmania as an inadequate supply of rental housing.
RENTAL AFFORDABILITY IN TASMANIA – THE FACTS:
• Average rental household income in Greater Hobart: $86,491
• Average rental household income in rest of Tasmania: $72,428
• Percentage of income spent on rent (Hobart): 29 per cent
• Percentage of income spent on rent (rest of Tasmania): 28 per cent
• Since 2018, Hobart has remained the least affordable capital city to rent in, alongside Sydney
• Median rent in Hobart is now just 4 per cent lower than Melbourne’s, despite Hobart’s annual rental household income being 21 per cent lower than it is in Melbourne
• Regional towns including Swansea and Orford now considered moderately unaffordable
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Originally published as Rental Affordability Index 2023 paints dire picture of housing stress in Greater Hobart, regional Tasmania
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