Wollongong renters have been slugged with one of the largest rent increases since the first year of the COVID pandemic of any regional area in Australia.
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The national campaign Everybody's Home looked at weekly asking rents around the country and found that the Wollongong region's average weekly rent had risen by $199 since June 2020.
This represents an increase of almost 46 per cent, with the data from SQM Research showing the average rent for houses and units combined soared from $437 to $636 in the second week of June 2024.
It also means that a household renting an average Wollongong property is spending more than $10,300 extra on rent this year than four years ago.
It puts Wollongong at number eight on the list of the top 10 regional areas with the largest rent increases, and and second in NSW behind the Central Coast.
Renters on the South Coast haven't fared much better, with a jump from $417 per week to $600 - an increase of almost 39 per cent.
In the Wollongong area, it was the 2518 postcode - covering Corrimal, East Corrimal, Bellambi, Tarrawanna and Towradgi - that saw the greatest proportional increase over the same period, with the average rent skyrocketing by more than 60 per cent.
The smallest increase was in the northernmost suburbs from Coalcliff to Helensburgh, at 26.6 per cent.
Across regional Australia, Everybody's Home says, the average increase in weekly rent over the four years is $153.
The highest increase was in northern Western Australia, where the average weekly rent grew by $481 in four years.
Meanwhile the rate of vacant rental properties has fallen from an already low 1.5 per cent in the Wollongong region in June 2020 to 1 per cent in May 2024.
A vacancy rate of about 3 per cent is usually considered to represent a healthy balance between demand and supply, while anything lower than 2 per cent tends to push rental prices up.
However, the vacancy rate has risen since March 2022, when it sat at a two-decade low of 0.5 per cent.
The South Coast region's vacancy rate has dropped from 2.5 per cent to 2.3 per cent.
A commission into the housing crisis convened by Everybody's Home held a third hearing on Tuesday, June 25, which heard about the difficulties in accessing rental properties in regional areas.
Commissioner and former Labor senator Doug Cameron said the hearings had shown that there were too many people living in adversity because they could not secure appropriate, long-term housing.
He said government intervention was vital to addressing the problem.
More than three-quarters of renters who completed a survey submission indicated they were in housing stress.
Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
