Rental Affordability Snapshot

On 30 April, Anglicare WA released its annual Rental Affordability Snapshot (RAS). This year’s RAS reveals that despite having the nation’s best performing economy, WA’s rental market has reached record levels of unaffordability for low-income households.     

About the Snapshot 

Each year in March, the RAS measures the likelihood of people on low incomes finding a suitable home to rent in the private market.  It does this by taking a snapshot of all the properties listed for rent on realestate.com.au on a weekend in March and calculating whether each rental listing is affordable and appropriate for people on low incomes across various household types.   

A property is considered affordable if it requires less than 30% of a household’s income and appropriate if it has an adequate number of bedrooms. 

The 2025 RAS shows the number of properties listed for rent on 15-16 March 2025 in the following five regions covering all of WA: Perth Metro, South West & Great Southern, North West (Kimberley & Pilbara), Mid-West & Gascoyne, and Wheatbelt & Goldfields. 

Key Findings 

With WA’s median rent being $680 per week, up 21% from 2023 and a staggering 89% from 2020, not a single property—not even a room—is affordable for someone on JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, or the Disability Support Pension.  A single person earning minimum wage fares marginally better, with just 0.4% of properties being affordable and appropriate across the entire state.  

Rental increases have been well above inflation and wage growth for the past few years, and when combined with cost-of-living pressures, too many Western Australians are doing it tough, with those relying on income support being pushed further into poverty and homelessness.  This is compounded by longer-term systemic issues like a shortage of social housing and a tax system that favours investors at the expense of renters. 

Solutions 

Consequently, the contrast between WA’s prosperity and its housing disparity made housing and the cost of living defining issues for both the state and federal election. 

While Anglicare WA acknowledges the progress made by state and federal governments to increase social housing supply and reform the Residential Tenancies Act, it is essential that the new governments demonstrate boldness and a strong commitment to addressing the housing crisis in the short, medium, and long term.   

That is why Anglicare calls on the WA and Commonwealth governments to examine the 2025 RAS and our policy recommendations as they shape their housing policies and plan future budgets.   

To learn more about Anglicare WA’s advocacy priorities for housing, please click here.