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Growing suburbs in Brisbane’s south are some of the only places where rent is affordable for workers in some of the city’s fastest-growing industries.
While Brisbane’s rents are the least affordable they have ever been, tourism hotspots in Queensland’s regions outstrip most cities as some of the country’s most expensive places to rent.
The 2025 national rental affordability index report, released by National Shelter and SGS Economics and Planning on Monday, found Brisbane and Perth were the only two capital cities where rents were not stabilising.
Brisbane’s rental affordability is still “unstable” and the state’s regions are the most expensive nationwide.
“Since 2019, affordability has worsened significantly, and consistently, in Perth and Brisbane,” it read.
Since 2020, rental affordability in Queensland’s regions has fallen by 7 per cent each year, outpacing the trend in Brisbane.
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This year, regional Queensland’s average affordability index was 94, equal to greater Perth, while Brisbane’s was 103, Sydney’s 100 and Melbourne’s 118.
The worst regions to rent in Queensland were on the Gold and Sunshine coasts, and across the board rents cost more than one-third of household income.
“Soaring rental rates have pushed median rents in regional Queensland above those in Brisbane, despite lower household incomes, making these areas even less affordable than the capital,” the report read.
Although the report found rental affordability had started to decline less steeply in Brisbane, industry experts cautioned big Olympics builds could leave a legacy of housing stress.
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A report from real estate and development agency Colliers estimated civil development costs – which cover everything that happens to a block of land before construction begins – had climbed as high as $215,000, and were expected to increase before 2032.
Experts also raised concerns about the short-term population boom from the Olympics pushing locals out of homes in the city – a concern mirrored by the rental affordability report.
“Most areas across the city are now moderately unaffordable to unaffordable, particularly inner Brisbane and coastal suburbs,” the report read.
“Renters must look as far as Ipswich or Logan City, at least 10 kilometres from the CBD, to find acceptable rental options.”
Those working in hospitality – one of greater Brisbane’s fastest-growing industries, responsible for 22 per cent of jobs – would need to put 41 per cent of their pay cheque towards rent.
For single-parent households and people relying on Jobseeker payments, the report said the trend of rents above affordable levels was “entrenched”.
In greater Brisbane, rent would take up 107 per cent of income for someone on Jobseeker, and for a single parent could account for between 29 per cent and 70 per cent of income, depending on whether the parent was working full-time or part-time with additional government support.
Across the city, rents took up 29 per cent of income on average across different household types, but were only in the “affordable” range for couples with two incomes.
The only two city regions in Australia the report found fell within “acceptable” rental affordability ranges were Canberra and greater Melbourne, where rental costs ate about one-quarter of income.
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