Revealed: 8 of the 20 worst electorates for rental stress are in Queensland

Electorates in South Eastern Queensland are among the worst for rental stress in the country, with 40% of renters struggling with housing they can’t afford, data released today shows

The University of NSW analysis for national housing campaign, Everybody’ Home shows that Hinkler tops the list of electorates for rental stress in Queensland, with 41% of households who rent in Hinkler experiencing chronic rental stress.

Hinkler is followed by Moncreiff 40%, Longman 40%, Wide Bay 39% and McPherson 39%.

Q Shelter spokesperson, Fiona Caniglia, said Queensland has 8 of the 20 electorates in the country with the highest proportion of renters in rental stress. Seven of these are located outside of Brisbane.

“Throughout this Federal Election campaign, candidates have talked a lot about tackling cost of living pressures.” Ms Caniglia said.

“If candidates are serious about addressing cost of living, then they have to answer what they are going to do to address chronic rental stress including regional Queensland.” Ms Caniglia said.

“We’re calling on all candidates to commit to real measures that will boost the supply of social and affordable housing and reduce the unacceptably high level of rental stress across the state.” Ms Caniglia added.

National Everybody’s Home campaign spokesperson, Kate Colvin said the data busted the myth that housing affordability an inner Melbourne or Sydney issue.

“The narrow focus on real estate prices for young home-buyers means that almost 190,000 Queensland households in rental stress are being forgotten by governments at all levels,” Ms Colvin said.

“Underinvestment in social housing, increasing rents and low wage growth mean that low income earners, and middle income earners are struggling right across the country.”

The seat-by-seat comparison compares rents and incomes across electorates to identify the number of households in rental stress.

Ms Colvin said Queensland voters in the Federal election expect all parties to announce policies that will address the cost of housing – the biggest single cost of living for households.

Everybody’s Home campaign is calling on governments to:

1. Develop a national strategy to provide the national shortfall of 500,000 social and affordable homes;
2. Prioritise homebuyers over investors by resetting the tax system;
3. Ensure a better deal for renters;
4. Increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance to provide immediate relief for renters in chronic rental stress;
5. Support a national plan to end homelessness by 2030.

Rental stress

• Rental stress refers to households with an income in the lowest two income quintiles (the bottom 40 per cent) of Australia’s income distribution who are paying more than 30 per cent of their income in housing costs.
• Estimated number of households in rental stress is an estimate of the number of lower income households in rental stress.

Doing it tough: housing stress in Queensland

QLD Rank	Electorate	Party	National rank	% of renters in rental stress	No. of households in rental stress
1	Hinkler	NATS	7	41	7,166
2	Moncrieff	LP	9	40	10,638
3	Longman	ALP	11	40	7,352
4	Wide Bay	NATS	12	39	5,979
5	McPherson	LP	14	39	7,181
6	Fisher	LP	17	39	6,381
7	Fadden	LP	18	39	8,846
8	Fairfax	LP	19	38	6,763
9	Forde	LP	29	36	6,784
10	Wright	LP	36	35	3,719
11	Rankin	ALP	40	35	7,114
12	Bowman	LP	41	35	4,773
13	Petrie	LP	45	35	7,714
14	Blair	ALP	56	34	6,653
15	Dickson	LP	68	32	3,822
16	Groom	LP	71	32	5,714
17	Moreton	ALP	81	31	5,646
18	Bonner	LP	86	30	4,584
19	Oxley	ALP	88	30	5,564
20	Herbert	ALP	93	30	7,090
21	Lilley	ALP	95	30	6,400
22	Leichhardt	LP	98	29	7,923
23	Ryan	LP	104	29	4,880
24	Dawson	NATS	107	28	5,429
25	Brisbane	LP	115	28	9,217
26	Griffith	ALP	123	26	7,415
27	Kennedy	KAP	125	25	4,621
28	Capricornia	NATS	129	25	4,439
29	Maranoa	NATS	131	25	4,340
30	Flynn	NATS	145	20	3,774