Wednesday, December 02, 2020

The Rental Affordability Index

The homeless charity National Shelter has released an interactive map which visualizes how affordable rents are across Australia. The Rental Affordability Index (RAI) is an indicator of the "price of rents relative to household income based on new rental agreements". The index is updated annually by National Shelter and its partners. 

The percentage of the population renting in Australia is on the increase, having risen from 27% to 32% between 1997 and 2018. During that same period the cost of renting rose to an average of 20% of household income. In some areas of Australia the cost of renting has risen even higher.

National Shelter's Rental Affordability Index interactive map allows you to enter your household income and see the RAI score for different postcode areas. Postcode areas are colored on the map by their individual RAI score (ranging from 'very affordable' to 'extremely unaffordable'). If you click on one of the colored postcode areas you can view the actual RAI score. The map also allows you to view the RAI scores for different household profiles and compare the latest RAI score for a postcode area with any quarters index score, dating back to 2011.

No comments: