Toowoomba rental vacancy plummets as rents increase

Toowoomba renters will pay $8500 more this year on rent than they would have in 2020 as households struggle to keep up with bills, drawing closer to the bottom line in order to keep a roof over their heads. Here’s what readers had to say:

Your Say: Rental increases, vacancy rates plummet.

As the housing crisis escalates the lasting realities of cost-of-living: grocery prices, inflation, electricity bills and the dreaded rental price increases only feel closer than ever before.

Rental prices have increased on average by $165 per week for 3 bedroom houses across Toowoomba since the last state election in 2020, shows data from the Residential Tenancies Authority.

That means, on average, renters are paying $8580 more out of their annual income to afford to keep a roof over their heads.

In addition to this, renters are unable to shop around for the best rental price, as the region experiences an incredibly tight rental vacancy rate of 0.6 per cent this month.

The last time Toowoomba sat at a healthy vacancy rate (2.6 per cent or more) was in September 2018, and for the last four years hasn’t even been able to reach 1 per cent, according to REIQ data.

Spending 30 per cent of gross income on housing costs is a general measure of housing affordability, and anything more is considered housing stress, particularly to lower-income households.

According to St Vincent de Paul’s data, lower-income households reaching out to them for help are spending on average 66 per cent of their income on rent.

So we asked our readers, how much has your rent increased?

Some people commented they had an increase of $100 or more each year, others said they had to move in with other couples or families to make ends meet, and some said moving would cost more.

“$120 in our last two lease renewals. They wanted another 80 this last time, but we said how about half due to so much maintenance not being done,” commented Mel Pascoe.

“Was 360 now 570,” Sharon Jeffries wrote.

“Went up $80 one year and $75 the next, and I managed to negotiate only $15 this year,” commented Bel Gee.

Emma Jones said she was “lucky” her rent only went up $30 in their first lease renewal.

“Started off paying $580 two and half years ago now paying $740,” wrote Tahlia McAvan.

Ms McAvan said she lived in a 5 bedroom home in Middle Ridge.

“We stay because it would cost us more to move our family and there is no guarantee that we would even find another home that suits our needs,” she said.

“It’s definitely expensive for what it is though.”

Originally published as Toowoomba rental vacancy plummets as rents increase