Anglicare WA has released its annual Rental Affordability Snapshot (RAS), and this year’s RAS reveals that the rental crisis in WA has now become an economic crisis.
What is the RAS?
Each March, the RAS analyses all rental properties advertised on realestate.com.au over a selected weekend to assess whether low-income households across WA can find an affordable and appropriate home in the private rental market.
A rental is considered affordable if it costs less than 30% of a household’s income and appropriate if it provides an adequate number of bedrooms.
The 2026 Snapshot shows the number of properties listed for rent on 14-15 March 2026 across the following five regions spanning the state: Perth Metro; South West & Great Southern; North West (Kimberley & Pilbara); Mid West & Gascoyne; and Wheatbelt & Goldfields.
Key findings
- Fewer rental properties are available, affordable, and appropriate in 2026 compared to previous years.
- WA’s weekly median rent is now $747, up 10% from 2025 and an alarming 74% from 2021.
- Single people on Youth Allowance and all household types on JobSeeker are completely locked out of the private rental market; not a single property, not even a room in a share house, is affordable for them.
- Rental options for Disability Support Pension and Age Pension recipients remain extremely limited, with just one (0.03%) and seven (0.2%) of the 3,314 available properties being affordable and appropriate.
- Minimum wage households fare comparatively better with 128 properties (4%) being affordable and appropriate. However, these options remain well out of reach for most people on low incomes.
- To keep pace with median rent rises since 2021 and to avoid rental stress, renters would need to earn an additional $55,000 each year.
What does this mean for our housing future?
Rental affordability in WA has hit an all-time low. Rental costs are rising faster than wages, and vacancy rates in Perth sit at a mere 0.6%. This makes WA one of the tightest rental markets in the country, with more people competing for fewer properties.
This shortage of affordable housing is driving many low-income Western Australians into financial distress and homelessness. The rental affordability crisis has rapidly evolved into a broader economic crisis for WA, with lasting consequences for intergenerational wealth and equity if not addressed soon.
Solutions
The rental affordability crisis has been decades in the making and both the state and federal governments need to act more broadly to address the current rental debacle. A bold vision is needed, but sensible policy solutions are at hand.
While Anglicare WA welcomes recent action to expand social housing and reform tenancy laws, responding effectively to the housing crisis will require far stronger commitment over the short, medium and long term.
Anglicare WA therefore calls on WA and Federal Governments to draw on the 2026 Rental Affordability Snapshot and its recommendations when developing housing policy and future budgets.
