Alternative Approaches to Measuring Rental Housing Affordability in Australia

The study analyses a range of approaches to measuring housing affordability in the Australian private rental market. In particular, it compares traditional consumption-based measures of housing affordability with a new measure of housing affordability based on the Canadian core housing need model, which includes the suitability of the dwelling for the household’s needs as well as its cost. The main findings of the study are that low income earners in the private rental market generally pay rents similar to those of higher income earners. This results in housing stress for some low income families and individuals in the private rental market. The study also identifies a significant number of other low income people ‘at risk’ because they would face difficulties if they were forced to move from their current accommodation. Sole parents, young single people and elderly couples were found to have the highest incidence of poor affordability and to be the most likely to be in unsuitable housing.