The story so far
Since 2013, Australian house prices have risen nearly twice as fast as wages, and over 50% faster than rents.
The COVID-19 pandemic triggered an extraordinary price surge — house prices jumped ~35% between 2020 and 2022 alone, despite a brief rental market softening in locked-down inner cities.
Even as the RBA raised the cash rate 13 times between May 2022 and November 2023, house prices proved stubbornly resilient, now sitting nearly 100% above their 2013 baseline.
Hover over lines to explore values. Use the legend to show/hide series.
Rents surge to a 30-year high
In 2023, Australia’s rent inflation hit 6.7% — the fastest pace in three decades — before accelerating further to 7.3% in 2024.
For years, rent growth tracked closely with general inflation and wages. That relationship broke down sharply after 2021, as returning international students and migrants flooded a market with critically low supply.
The result: renters are now paying significantly more in real terms, with wage growth failing to keep pace. The bars show rent inflation; the lines show what workers and general prices were doing at the same time.
Click legend items to show/hide series.
No escape — prices are up everywhere
In 2015, only NSW exceeded the $700k mean dwelling price. By 2024, every mainland state and territory had crossed that threshold.
NSW mean prices have climbed from $720k to $1.29 million in under a decade. Perhaps more strikingly, states once seen as affordable alternatives — Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia — have seen prices surge by over 80–90% in the same period.
The dashed line marks the informal $800k threshold that many financial advisors cite as the point at which median-income households struggle to service a standard mortgage.
Hover over bars for exact values.
The 30% rule — broken across the board
Economists use the 30% of gross income rule to define housing stress. In 2019, most Australian renters were near or just above that line. By 2024, nearly every capital city has crossed it decisively — for both renters and buyers.
Sydney homebuyers now spend a staggering 68% of gross household income on mortgage repayments — a figure that would have seemed unthinkable a decade ago.
Renters have not been spared: Adelaide and Brisbane renters, who were previously in more comfortable positions, now spend over 32–34% of income on rent.
Hover over dots for exact values. Click legend items to filter.
Supply — the root of the crisis
Australia’s national rental vacancy rate has collapsed from a balanced ~2.8% in 2013 to a critically tight 1.2% by 2024 — well below the 2–3% range considered a balanced market by SQM Research.
Even 13 consecutive interest rate hikes by the Reserve Bank could not meaningfully ease the rental market. Higher rates reduced purchasing demand but paradoxically worsened rental pressure, as would-be buyers stayed in the rental pool and investors were discouraged from new builds.
The result is a vicious cycle: fewer rentals, higher rents, less ability to save for a deposit, more people stuck renting. Supply — not just demand — is at the heart of Australia’s housing crisis.
Hover over lines to compare values by year. ```