Hobart rents cost more per week than Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

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THE typical Hobart home renter is forking out $26,000 per year to put a roof over their head, a report has revealed.

Renters in the southernmost capital are paying a median rent of $500 per week, a sum 6.4 per cent more than at the same time last year.

Hobart rents are more expensive than Melbourne ($440 per week), Brisbane ($485), Adelaide ($450) and Perth ($460). And the gap between Melbourne and Hobart is over $3000 per year.

For those renting a Hobart house, prices have climbed even higher — an 8 per cent year-on-year change — or $540 per week, per PropTrack data. This includes a -1.8 per cent reduction over the September quarter.

Unit rentals in Hobart are 5.9 per cent higher today compared to one year ago, at $450 per week.

In regional Tasmania, house rents have grown 10.5 per cent annually to a $420 per week median, units 9.4 per cent to $350, and all dwellings 11.1 per cent to $400 per week.

And while rents soar higher, ABS figures show Tasmanians make the lowest incomes in Australia.

Rental prices are expensive in Hobart.

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PropTrack director of economic research Cameron Kusher expects Hobart rents to continue to rise, albeit marginally.

He said Hobart’s median rent had been about $500 per week since May of this year.

“While it is still expensive to rent in Hobart, the data suggests that rental pressure is easing a bit, whereas for some time it was escalating with double-digit growth,” Mr Kusher said.

“In May, rents were up 11 per cent year-on-year, but now growth has slowed to 6.4 per cent.

“While there is not a lot of stock available to rent, there is more choice with listings up 9 per cent compared to this time last year.”

PropTrack’s Cameron Kusher.

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Tasmanian Council of Social Service chief executive Adrienne Picone described the Tasmanian housing market as “a failed market”.

Ms Picone said rental vacancy rates are consistently below 1 per cent, when a healthy rate is about 3 per cent.

“The result is persistent and growing inequality and a state where more and more Tasmanians do not have access to the most basic human right of shelter,” she said.

“With rent as a proportion of income continuing to blowout — far more than the 30 per cent of the income ‘stress threshold’ — people are being forced into homelessness.

“In many cases, those who manage to cling onto housing are putting up with substandard rental conditions, such as poorly insulated homes or mould, or taking out loans simply to keep a roof over their heads.”

TasCOSS chief executive Adrienne Picone.

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SQM Research figures show Hobart has a 0.5 per cent rental vacancy rate. Hobart was last above 1 per cent in May of 2020 and at 3 per cent in April 2012.

Meanwhile, the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s latest Housing Affordability Report confirmed the stress in the Tasmanian market, naming it the “least affordable state or territory in which to rent a property”.

RENTAL PRICES

Median rent, QoQ change, YoY chance

Canberra $600 2.6% 9.1%

Sydney $550 1.9% 10%

Darwin $550 0% 10%

Hobart $500 0% 6.4%

Brisbane $485 3.2% 12.5%

Perth $460 2.2% 8.2%

Adelaide $450 3.4% 12.5%

Melbourne $440 3.5% 10%

Source: PropTrack all dwellings September 2022