Here's what the median wage gets you as a renter in Melbourne's eastern suburbs

Are you spending more than 30 per cent of your income on renting in the eastern suburbs?

If so, you’re among the thousands of Australians facing “rental stress” - a term used to describe households at risk of experiencing difficulty meeting their rental costs. As such, high levels of rental stress mean affordability may be low.

With rental affordability continuing to worsen, we took a look at what 30 per cent of the median income might get you if you are looking at renting across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. However, a number of renters, especially young families living on a low income, might have to look at spending significantly more than 30 per cent.

According to statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 58 per cent of low-income private renters experienced rental stress in the 2019/20 period.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ data on median earnings of employees across the country during August shows the median employee earnings as $1396 per week - meaning a single person would need to spend $418.80 or less to avoid experiencing rental stress.

Using this as a metric to search for rental opportunities across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, we used two of Australia’s most popular home search websites - realestate.com.au and domain.com.au - and found extremely limited results, often limited to granny flats or single rooms in a sharehouse or a shared apartment. Granted, December can be a tough time to look for property whether you’re buying or renting. Still, the options available were not encouraging.

In some areas, there are some listings for one-bedroom and one-bathroom apartments, including this one in Blackburn.

In Boronia, $325 a week will get you a very simple one-bedroom studio room with an ensuite on Dorset Road.

In Forest Hill, a one-bedroom and one-bathroom unit was available for $350 a week.

In Box Hill, a studio apartment is available for $350 a week for students only.

The search gets harder if you’re a couple with a single child living on one income, with many searches for two-bedroom and two-bathroom properties below $550 a week across suburbs usually only showing one or two results.

Released on December 11, AIHW’s 2023/24 Specialist Homelessness Services Annual Report highlighted 13,715 employed Victorians sought homelessness assistance this financial year – a 23 per cent jump compared to five years ago.

Rough sleeping in Victoria jumped 21 per cent over the past five years, with a six per cent annual increase.

There was also a 16 per cent annual rise in people nominating housing affordability stress – high rents or mortgage repayments – as the main driver behind seeking homelessness help.

Council to Homeless Persons chief executive officer Deborah Di Natale said the figures highlighted the ever-growing need for the state government to do more to tackle the housing crisis.

"Having a job is no longer protection against homelessness, which is an alarming reality that we can only fix by investing in more public and community housing,” she said.

Homelessness Australia chief executive officer Kate Colvin said people across the country are being “pushed to breaking point” by ever-increasing rental costs.

“This is a humanitarian crisis and these shocking new figures must be a wake-up call for governments across Australia,” she said.

Photo Credit: Wolf Zimmermann/Unsplash