ABC News Daily How the rental crisis is changing our cities
Apr 13, 2025
Inga Ting, a data journalist with the ABC's Digital Story Innovations team, dives into Australia’s escalating rental crisis. She reveals how skyrocketing rents are pushing average-income families out of key urban areas, with Perth unexpectedly becoming the most unaffordable city. The discussion highlights personal stories, emphasizing the struggle of single parents and the wider societal impact. Inga also explores various political responses and innovative strategies to stabilize rental affordability and improve the situation for renters.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
A struggling renter story
- Melanie Mizuraka, a single mother on the Gold Coast, has seen her rent increase drastically from $380 to $650 per week.
- To afford this, she works multiple jobs and her family lives frugally, but rent still consumes 54% of their income.
Perth's affordability crisis
- Perth has overtaken Sydney as the least affordable city for renters, with 70% of postcodes now unaffordable for average-income households.
- Similar increases occurred in Adelaide, demonstrating the widespread nature of the crisis.
Two-faced cities
- Rental unaffordability was once concentrated in inner cities, but now average-income renters are being pushed to the outer margins of most capital cities.
- This geographical segregation creates 'two-faced' cities with sharp divides between the rich and poor.