Anglicare’s annual Rental Affordability Snapshot has revealed key professions can only afford a small percentage of rental listings across Australia. Of 16 occupations surveyed, only three saw an increase in affordability since last year.
Anglicare is calling on the federal government to deliver more social and affordable housing.
Essential workers are being priced out of Australia’s private rental market as affordability plummets, new research shows.
Anglicare’s annual Rental Affordability Snapshot has revealed key occupations, including retail workers, social workers and cleaners, can afford fewer than 1 per cent of rental listings. Other essential jobs, such as nursing and teaching, are not faring much better, with just 1.1 and 3.3 per cent of listings deemed affordable, respectively.
The Anglicare report surveyed 48,776 rental listings across Australia, measuring each property against the full-time minimum wage for workers in 16 essential occupations.
Of the jobs included in the research, only three saw an increase in affordability compared to 2025, while the other 13 either decreased or remained stagnant. For a hospitality worker in the Northern Territory, there are no affordable rentals available in the state. Elsewhere, only 338 listings remained.
Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said wage growth had not kept up with rent increases in recent years. She said wages have increased by less than half that rate in the same period. “For those who are paying in the private rental market, sadly, most of that increase has just been swallowed up by rents.”
Data from real estate analyst Cotality showed unit rents have increased by 44.3 per cent in the last five years, while house rents have gone up by 36.6 per cent.