Rental affordability has gone from bad to worse across the country, creating a "dire" environment for people living on low incomes.
Renters in every capital city are in a worse position than before the pandemic, according to the annual Rental Affordability Index from SGS Economics and peak body National Shelter.
Sydneysiders remain the worst off with a decline of 13 per cent in affordability, followed by Melbourne and Perth, which recorded a 10 per cent drop.
National Shelter chief executive Emma Greenhalgh said renters have been smashed with enormous rent hikes well beyond income growth over the past year.
"With vacancy rates so incredibly low, landlords have been able to pass on interest rate rises to tenants - and the pressure is only set to increase following last week's rate rise," she said.
"More households in our cities and our regions are in rental stress and many areas are the most unaffordable they have ever been.
"Governments must urgently address this worsening affordability crisis, including by building more homes and better regulating renting."
Housing situation 'dire'
The report, which compares median rents with average incomes, found regional Queensland was the unaffordable place in Australia to rent a home.
The median rental is currently $553 a week, now costing 30 per cent of the average annual regional household income of $96,033.
Renters in regional areas of the Sunshine State must now pay 30 per cent of their income on rent, meeting the threshold for rental stress.
"Unaffordability has spread from the cities to well into the regions," Principal at SGS Economics & Planning Ellen Witte said.
"Households will have to live further away from where the jobs are to access affordable rents, and businesses are struggling to find workers.
"This downward spiral has now reached the point where very few affordable long-term rentals are on offer."
Only Melbourne and the ACT have what are "considered acceptable" rents for average income households.
Affordability in the regions has also declined everywhere except Tasmania with falls of between seven and nine per cent in regional Queensland, regional South Australia, and regional Western Australia.
The situation is particularly dire for people on low incomes, single person on JobSeeker having to spend more than 75 per cent of their income to rent a one-bedroom apartment in any capital city.
A single pensioner would need to spend 50 per cent of their income to rent in all capitals except Adelaide and Hobart and at least 32 per cent in regional areas.
