Kathmandu: The growing gap between incomes and rental costs has placed increasing financial pressure on households in Australia. A new report shows that even people earning average incomes in the country’s major capital cities are facing significant challenges in meeting rental costs.
According to a study by housing advocacy group Everybody’s Home, people earning average incomes in all eight Australian capital cities have to spend more than half of their earnings to rent a unit.
The situation is even more difficult for lower-income earners. The report estimates that a person earning 40,000 Australian dollars a year would have to spend nearly 89 percent of their total income on average rent. For those earning 70,000 dollars annually, rental costs account for around 56 percent of their income.
Even higher-income earners are facing substantial housing costs. A person earning 100,000 Australian dollars a year would still need to allocate about 41 percent of their income to average rent, according to the study.
Sydney has the highest rental burden among the major cities. A person earning 70,000 Australian dollars annually would have to spend around 69 percent of their income on weekly rent, the report says.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the average annual salary of employees in Australia stood at 74,100 Australian dollars as of August 2025. However, with a large portion of earnings going toward rent, households are left with less money to cover other everyday expenses.
Mai Aziz, a representative of Everybody’s Home, said the housing crisis has been aggravated by insufficient government investment in public and community housing.
She called on the federal government to accelerate the construction of public and community housing to ease the crisis. According to her, Australia will need around one million additional public and community homes over the next 15 years.
Post a Comment