Rent crisis? Average rents are increasing less than you might think

By Ben Phillips, Associate Professor, Centre for Social Research and Methods, Director, Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Australian National University

You wouldn’t know it from the pages of our daily newspapers, but the rate of growth in rents has been pretty modest.

Not everywhere, not for everyone, but for most Australians who rent.

According to the most recent count used by the Bureau of Statistics to compile the consumer price index, rents increased by only 1.6% in the year to June.

By comparison, wages climbed 2.6%.

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