Affordable private rental supply and demand: Short-term disruption and longer-term structural change

Abstract

This research analyses the ABS Census to reveal changes in the supply of private rental housing affordable and available to lower-income households (Q1 and Q2 households) over both the short term (2016–21) and the longer term (1996–2021). It also provides analysis of how COVID-19 policy and population responses temporarily altered the long-run structural trajectory of the private rental sector in Australia.

Between 2016 and 2021 private rental sector growth was concentrated at mid-market levels; in dwellings renting from around $300–$530 per week ($2021). This continues a major change trend first established in 2011, reinforcing the structural shift to a market concentration of dwellings renting at mid-to-higher levels.