The Average Monthly Rent & Mortgage Payments in Australia

The Australian property and rental market has experienced significant changes in recent years, influenced by factors such as rising house prices, fluctuating mortgage rates, and increasing demand for rental properties. 

As a result, the costs associated with homeownership and renting have evolved, impacting both renters and homeowners across the country. 

This article provides an in-depth look at the current monthly costs for rent and mortgages across Australia. How do your costs compare?

Number of renters and homeowners in Australia

When comparing the number of renters, homeowners with a mortgage, and homeowners who own their homes outright, there’s a roughly ⅓ split between them.

Number of homeowners - with a mortgage

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), in the 2019-20 period, there were approximately 9.8 million households in Australia. Out of these, around 2.9 million households owned their home with a mortgage, which is around 35% of Australians. 

Number of homeowners - without a mortgage

Nearly 3 million households, or 32%, owned a home outright with no mortgage.

In total, 67% of Australian households own their own homes, which sounds like a lot, but it’s actually the lowest level of homeownership seen for some time. For example, 71.4% of households owned their homes in 1994-95.

Proportion of households by housing tenure type

Number of renters

Renters - either private renters or those renting from a state housing authority - account for 31% of Aussie households, down slightly from 32% in 2018.

Broken down by state, Western Australia has the highest percentage of home ownership at 69.3%, while the Northern Territory has the lowest (59%):

• New South Wales home ownership: 64% homeowners, 33% renters
• Victoria home ownership: 68% homeowners, 29% renters
• Queensland home ownership: 64% homeowners, 35% renters
• Western Australia home ownership: 69.3% homeowners, 28% renters
• South Australia home ownership: 69% homeowners, 30% renters
• Tasmania home ownership: 68% homeowners, 29% renters
• Northern Territory home ownership: 59% homeowners, 40% renters
• Australian Capital Territory home ownership: 69% homeowners, 28% renters

What is the average monthly rent in Australia?

According to CoreLogic’s data from May 2024, the average weekly rent in Australia is $627. When multiplied by the average number of weeks in a month (4.33), that's $2,715 per month. 

As you can see in the table below, Sydney (unsurprisingly) has the highest median monthly rents at over $3,300. That’s a 9% increase in just one year.

Perth renters have seen the most significant spike in rental costs, with their monthly rental payments jumping nearly 14% to just shy of $2,900.

Across the combined capital cities, the typical rent payment is $2,853 per month, similar to Perth’s.

Average monthly rent: regional areas

Not everyone lives in a capital city, though. The same report from CoreLogic found that the median weekly rent in regional Australia is $540, or $2,338, per month.

Renting is a bit more affordable in non-capital cities, and these areas have seen smaller increases compared to more populated areas. While capital cities saw rents grow by 9.4% in 12 months, regional Australia saw a slower rate of growth at 6.4%.

While there are too many regional areas to list the median rents for in one article, we’ve picked out 20 of the most populated from CoreLogic’s Regional Market Update:

What is the average mortgage repayment in Australia?

Moving on to homeowners with a mortgage now: how much do they pay each month for their home loan?

Much has been said of rising mortgage rates in the past couple of years. The combination of a higher cash rate and soaring house prices has resulted in much higher mortgage costs.

According to the latest Lending Indicators data from the ABS, the average size of a new mortgage taken out in Australia as of April 2024 was $625,791.

Compared to the average loan size pre-COVID in 2020 (just four years ago!), mortgages have increased by around 21%!

We’ll break these figures down into monthly costs below. 

Average monthly mortgage by state

Based on the ABS data above, Sydney ($764,453) has the highest average mortgage size, while Tasmania ($449,482) has the lowest. 

To work out what the monthly repayments are for these average loan amounts, we’ll use a mortgage repayment calculator with the following assumptions:

• The interest rate is 6.22% p.a. (the average owner-occupier, principal and interest rate as of March 2024)
• The loan term is 30 years
• There are no fees on the loan
• The interest rate does not change, and no extra or missed repayments occur.

Here’s what the average mortgage costs in each state or territory in Australia as of mid-2024:

At the time of writing, the average monthly mortgage repayment in Australia is a sizeable $3,841 per month!

Are you struggling to save?

Check out the following articles:

• 50+ Everyday Ways to Save Money in 2024
• Top 6 Tips to Save on Fuel
• 10 Ways to Save on Energy Bills
• The Top 10 Money Apps in Australia
• 10 Tips To Help Boost Your Chances Of Loan Approval
• 10 Tips to Save Money on the Weekend
• 10 Habits of People With Good Credit Scores

You can also check out our Debt Consolidation Personal Loans if you need a hand managing your debts.

Written by - William Jolly

Content Manager

William is the Content Manager at Jacaranda Finance. He has worked as both a journalist and a media advisor at some of Australia's biggest financial comparison sites such as Canstar, Compare the Market and Savings.com.au, and is passionate about helping Australians find the right money solution for them.

You can get in touch with William via williamj@jacarandafinance.com.au.

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