Renters are feeling more hurt than ever as housing unaffordability and low availability contribute to "unprecedented" stress.
Almost , as quantified by property research group Suburbtrends, founded by Kent Lardner.
He said the index takes into account four factors - availability, affordability, vacancy, and price trends - to create a score out of 100.
"We really would prefer households to be spending less than 25 per cent of household income on rents," Lardner said. "But increasingly we're finding a number of these suburbs that we're shortlisting spending 30 per cent and more of their household income (on rent)."
The worst suburbs across Australia to rent in
Across Australia, almost half of all suburbs are classified as being in "extreme pain" based on rental stress.
But Queensland and South Australia recorded the highest levels of stress overall, with 58 per cent of suburbs in both states scoring above 75.
Lardner said in January, 12 suburb groups were ranked with the maximum 100.
Most of them were in Queensland, including Durack, Logan Central, Deception Bay, Riverview, Robina - East, Bethania - Waterford, Varsity Lakes, and Mermaid Waters.
Four NSW suburbs, Warilla, Sans Souci - Ramsgate, Monterey - Brighton-le-Sands - Kyeemagh, and Kingsgrove - North also scored 100. Lavington, with a rental pain index score of 99, rounded out the top five in the state.
In Victoria, Wheelers Hill was a 98 on the rental pain index — the highest score in the state. It was followed by Dandenong - South (97), Thomastown (96), Seaford (95), and Frankston North (94).
In South Australia, four suburb groups scored 99, including Christie Downs, Warradale, Morphett Vale - West, and Royal Park - Hendon - Albert Park. Christies Beach was given a 98.
Midland - Guildford was Western Australia's worst suburb group with a score of 95. Cloverdale and Belmont - Ascot - Redcliffe both scored 94, and Thornlie and Spearwood, 93.
And on the Apple Isle, Mowbray was Tasmania's number one ranked suburb for rental pain with a score of 95. It was followed by Invermay (88), Ravenswood (86), New Town (84), and Bellerive - Rosny (81).
Rental problem needs 'urgent solutions'
Rather than being an isolated issue, was a nationwide problem that required immediate and comprehensive action, Lardner said.
"The data calls for urgent, multifaceted policy solutions to address the soaring rental costs and limited housing availability," he said.
One suggestion is a nationwide cap on rent increases, similar to controls in the ACT.
The Labor-Greens ACT government introduced limits in 2019 on landlords , as measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The territory had the lowest proportion of suburbs in extreme rental pain with 6 per cent, while CoreLogic's 2023 Property Market Indicator showed rents decreased 1.9 per cent in Canberra, compared with an 8.3 per cent rise nationally.
The ACT had the lowest proportion of suburbs in extreme rental pain with 6 per cent, according to the report. Source: AAP / Sam Mooy
He said extreme rental stress is something the organisation sees daily, with some of the people they advocate for spending a whopping 80 per cent of their income on rent.
Millward says the hardest hit are students, people receiving welfare, and those in casual or precarious work.
"The poorest people - the people most in need - are living in houses that are falling apart ... because they can't afford the risk of standing up for their rights," Millward said.
He would like to see tenancy laws streamlined across Australia to give better protections to renters, as well as immediate measure like a two-year cap on rentals.
Lardner said short-term solutions like rental caps should be used with caution, as they can begin to have a reverse impact and limit supply if used for too long.
There's a lot of commentary about solutions, but the issues are structural, said Greg Bader, the CEO of rent.com.au, a website that helps renters locate and secure properties.
"The over-arching issue is our house prices have gone through the roof in Australia, interest rates have gone up, we've got construction delays, we've got more people, so all of those things are compounding too," Bader said.
Bader said he would like to see a range of measures, such as low-deposit schemes and cash incentives for landlords to rent their properties below market rate.
Supply is a major issue also acknowledged by Lardner.
The federal government — an average of 240,000 a year.
But Lardner has concerns over how many of them will be affordable, and argues we need a "whole new approach" to housing in Australia.
"Building 700,000 or 800,000 thousand dollar apartments or million dollar homes doesn't translate to an affordable rental," he said.
"And at the moment I think with all the constraints facing developers and builders, access to land, , etcetera, we need to think out of the box quickly, because the homelessness issue is not going away," he said.
Lardner believes addressing - which is often hidden by people or - should be the number one priority.
He said Australia needs to look at creative solutions like mobile home parks, which can be built in 6 to 8 weeks.
- With the Australian Associated Press.
