REA Group’s Angus Moore says Tasmania’s lowest income earners can afford just 1 per cent of advertised rentals. Picture: Supplied
Four out of five rentals are too expensive for a typical Tasmanian family, a report has revealed.
REA Group’s new Rental Affordability Report shows that an Apple Isle household earning a median income equivalent to $90,500 per year could afford to rent just 19 per cent of advertised rentals.
This was the lowest share of any state.
However, the rental market is dire for low-income earners — including singles, students, some retirees, and young and older households where people earn little or do not work much.
The report revealed that when committing 25 per cent of income to rent, households in the lowest income bracket — the bottom 30th percentile or $62,000 — can afford just 1 per cent of advertised rentals.
MORE: Sentosa set for record-smashing $15m sale
Norm-breaking Tassie auction pays off for charity
Typical Hobart households can afford less than one in five rentals.
Report author and REA Group economist, Angus Moore, described this as “effectively none”.
Households in Tasmania’s 70th percentile, about $147,000, cannot afford 10 per cent of rental homes.
Mr Moore’s research found that rental affordability in Tasmania declined in 2025-26 relative to a year ago, though it remains slightly better than its record low in 2022-23.
He said the pace of rent growth in Hobart picked up again in 2025, after recording slower growth over recent years.
Median advertised rents across Hobart were up just shy of 10 per cent between December 2024 and 2025, after rents fell a little in 2023 and then grew only modestly in 2024.
MORE: Where renting beats buying, for now
Hobart singles no-go home zone
No.4 Braydon Ct, Bridgewater can be rented for $420 per week 4one4 Property Co. Picture: realestate.com.au
Mr Moore said Tasmania has faced a different trajectory for rental affordability than other states.
He said rents in Tasmania increased much earlier than in other parts of Australia, meaning affordability deteriorated rapidly from the mid-to-late-2010s, which was not true for other parts of the country.
“Rapid rent growth in the back of the 2010s and into the start of the pandemic saw Tasmania fall to being the least affordable state for renters from 2019-20 to 2022-23 — the only time any state has been less affordable than New South Wales,” he said.
The report showed that the median advertised rent has increased significantly compared to March 2020, adding thousands to a renter’s annual housing bill.
Hobart is now $125 per week more expensive than it was at the start of the pandemic, while regional Tasmania is $150 more expensive.
The modelling doesn’t factor in any assistance that low-income earners might receive and is based only on private rentals advertised on realestate.com.au, which excludes social or affordable housing schemes.
“It does underscore the fact that trying to rent in the private market as a low-income household without government support would be almost impossible,” Mr Moore said.
MORE: AFL stars, expats and locals battle for Tasmania’s finest homes
Rental crisis bites: Hobart down to six affordable suburbs
Peterswald has No.16 Marlborough St, Sandy Bay available to rent for $1300 per week. Picture: realestate.com.au
New rental figures from the Real Estate Institute of Tasmania show $30 per week was added to rents in Hobart last year, $50 per week in Launceston and $60 weekly on the North West Coast.
REIT stats showed rental vacancies in these major population hubs ranged from 1.4 per cent to 1.7 per cent, significantly below the 3 per cent required for a healthy rental market.
REIT president Russell Yaxley said properties were taking less time to rent and stock is shrinking.
“Given the strength of our buyer and rental demand and diminishing stock levels, we would expect the upward pressure on prices and rents to continue,” he said.
Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Russell Yaxley. Picture: Supplied
The REIT stats also show that investment yields of 4.3 per cent to 4.6 per cent were achieved across the three regions in the December quarter.
Investor numbers soared to 650 sales for the quarter.
Mr Yaxley said this was 29 per cent higher than September, and 104 per cent above the same time last year.
“Mainland-based investors accounted for 65.5 per cent of our sales in this sector over the quarter,” he said.
English (US) · 