Australia’s 50 most expensive suburbs to rent revealed

Australia’s rental market is tougher than ever, with sky-high prices and very low rental vacancy rates pushing us further into a rental crisis situation.

Rental price growth has hit record highs, and there is now growing concern that the supply of rental homes could get even worse as higher mortgage costs hit landlords and government interference makes property investment less attractive.

The current national vacancy rate sits at just 1.0%, with data varying wildly across the states.

Major cities are bearing the brunt of the crisis, with Perth suffering the lowest vacancy rate on record, at just 0.4%.

Over the 30 days to 12 March 2024, the capital city's asking rents for all units rose by a further 1.2% with the 12-month rise standing at 11.4%.

Darwin and Hobart recorded declines in rents of 2.1% and 0.1% respectively.

Melbourne recorded the fastest increase of 1.5%.

The national median weekly asking rent for a dwelling is recorded at $721 per week, according to SQM Research.

But while that might seem affordable for some, there are many suburbs where rental prices are significantly higher.

Australia's 50 priciest suburbs for renters

In fact, the top 30 of Australia’s top 50 most expensive suburbs to rent all have one thing in common: They’re all located in Sydney.

And 16 of the top 20 most expensive suburbs are all nestled in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs.

According to the most recent data by CoreLogic, the Sydney harbourside suburb of Vaucluse is Australia’s most expensive place to rent a home with the median weekly rental costs sitting at a whopping $2,588.

It’s somewhat unsurprising though given that the median house price in the area comes in at just over $9 million.

Second and third on the list are also located in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs.

Bellevue Hill’s $2,240 median rent gives a 1.67% rental yield while Rose Bay’s $2,174 median rent gives a slightly higher 1.83% rental yield.

Meanwhile, Double Bay, Dover Heights, and Bronte all have a median rent between $1,962 and $2,078 and are all also located in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Meanwhile, over on the north shore, renters in Mosman (which is 7th on the list) can expect to pay $1,921 per week in rent.

Here’s the full list:

Source: CoreLogic

Outside of Sydney, Melbourne’s bayside Brighton is the priciest capital city suburb with a median weekly rent of $1,361.

Close behind is Mount Claremont, which is Perth’s most expensive rental suburb, with a $1,308 per week median rent.

Bulimba is the most expensive suburb for rental properties in Brisbane, with a median of $1,164 per week rent.

Rental costs: How do our Aussie cities stack up?

Sydney might dominate the list of the top 30 most expensive suburbs for renting a property, but across city averages, the other city capitals are close behind.

Sydney’s elusive suburbs drag the city’s median rental price up to $726 per week but Canberra is very close behind with its $649 per week median, CoreLogic data shows.

Darwin comes third in line with a median rental price of $615 per week, followed by Brisbane with $614 per week and then Perth at $604 per week.

Surprisingly, Melbourne is one of Australia’s most affordable capital cities for renters, with a median dwelling rent of $553 per week.

Adelaide and Hobart sit at the bottom of the list with median weekly city rents of $548 and $529 per week respectively.

And in terms of the strongest-performing rental market among the capitals over the 12 months to October 2023, the data differs again.

Interestingly, Perth was the strongest performer, rising 13.2% over the 12-month period and 2.5% over the quarter.

Melbourne (despite its more affordable prices) and Sydney followed next with a 12.0% and 10.6% increase over the year.

Meanwhile, Hobart and Canberra suffered declines in their annual change in rents, or -1.7% and -3.0% respectively.

Has rental growth reached its peak?

Eliza Owen, CoreLogic head of research, said that while annual growth in rents is higher than historic averages, it has broadly slowed.

This is likely due to affordability constraints driving renters back into shared housing or to cheaper markets, she explained.

The recent resurgence in investor activity through 2023 may also be gradually helping to ease supply-side constraints.

In 2023, rent values rose 8.3%, down from a peak of 9.6% in the year to September 2022.

The slowdown has been most evident across regional Australia, where rents rose 4.3% last year, down from 13.4% in the year to August 2021.

The slowdown in capital city rent growth began more recently, easing from a peak of 10.6% in the 12 months to April 2023, to 9.8% by the end of the year.

“Despite the concerning reacceleration toward the end of 2023, rent growth is still expected to slow this year,” Owen said.

“The continued increase in investment lending, a normalisation in net overseas migration, and the potential for a cash rate reduction could all contribute to a slowdown.

However, in the short term, the burden largely remains on tenants to secure cheaper housing, whether that be by re-forming share house arrangements, or once again looking to regional or outer suburban markets for rental accommodation.”

Tips: As an investor, it's important to remember that while you can look forward to rising rental returns, an investor’s future income will be dependent upon their tenants' ability to keep paying higher rent over the years.

After all…your future income will be dependent upon your tenants’ ability to pay you increasing rent over time.

That’s why it’s important to own properties in the right suburbs - those where the tenants will be able to afford higher rents over time rather than suburbs where the tenants are only a week or two away from going broke.

In general, these will be locations where tenants are aspirational and have a good income, and are likely to have increasing income over time so they can pay you more rent.

About Leanne Jopson Leanne is National Director of Property Management at Metropole and a Property Professional in every sense of the word. With 20 years' experience in real estate, Leanne brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to maximise returns and minimise stress for their clients.