Sharpest increases seen in Adelaide, Hobart, Brisbane, and Perth
Rental prices in Australia’s capital cities have climbed sharply over the past decade, with new figures showing a 57% increase in average weekly rents, according to a report released by housing advocacy group Everybody’s Home.
The report found that cities once considered affordable have experienced the largest hikes. Adelaide saw the steepest rise at 81%, followed by Hobart at 76%, Brisbane at 66%, and Perth at 63%. The most significant jump occurred in the past three years, with rents increasing by 34% since 2022.
Average weekly rents across capital cities rose from $473 in 2015 to $742 in 2025. At the same time, the proportion of social housing has continued to fall, reaching a record low of 4.1% of all dwellings in 2024, down from 4.7% in 2013. The share has remained unchanged since the Labor government took office in 2022, despite growing demand.
The report estimates that to bring social housing up to 10% of all homes, more than 54,000 new dwellings would need to be built annually for the next 20 years. To reach 6%, over 36,000 additional homes would be required each year for the next decade.
Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize (pictured right) described the situation as a “national crisis that is now pricing out everyday people right across the country.”
“This report paints a clear picture of the damage that has been done, and without change it will only get worse,” she said. “As the federal government has walked away from providing housing, more and more people are being forced into an already strained private rental market which then pushes up rents right across the board.
“Once-affordable cities like Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart are now suffering from some of the most acute rental pressures in the country. They’ve either caught up or have overtaken the larger cities in terms of unaffordability. With more Australians renting than ever before and being priced out of the private housing market, the need for more low-cost rentals is essential.”
Azize called for urgent government intervention. “Right now, around 4% of all homes are social housing,” she said. “If we want one in 10 homes to be social housing, we need to build an extra 54,000 social homes every year for 20 years. Whichever way you look at it, the scale dwarfs current government commitments and lays bare both the enormous demand and decades of chronic underinvestment.
“We need government action that matches the scale of the housing crisis. Australian governments have stepped up and mobilised during other emergencies, from COVID-19 to natural disasters. Housing should be no different.
“When the new government meets for the first time, housing needs to be at the front of the agenda. Our national leaders need to set binding social housing targets and make the ambitious investments required to make social housing an option for more Australians.”
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