A Rental Affordability Snapshot has painted a bleak picture of the private market’s systemic exclusion of thousands of Australians on the lowest incomes.
Anglicare Australia’s nationwide Rental Affordability Snapshot 2025, released today (Wednesday 30 April), focuses on properties listed for rent on www.realestate.com.au over one weekend in March.
It then assesses whether each property is affordable and suitable for 14 types of households on low incomes.
Those households are:
• single people receiving the Disability Support Pension, Youth Allowance, JobSeeker and the Age Pension, or earning minimum wage
• single parents receiving the Parenting Payment or earning the minimum wage
• couples without children on the Age Pension, and
• couples with children on JobSeeker, Parenting Payment, earning the minimum wage, or a combination of these income sources.
In March 2025, the snapshot surveyed 1,976 private rentals advertised in Newcastle, Hunter, Lake Macquarie, Central Coast and Mid Coast regions.
It found only 38 (1.9 per cent) individual properties were suitable for at least one household type living on income support payments without placing them in housing stress.
For those living on minimum wage, 185 (9.4 per cent) individual properties were deemed suitable.
Anglicare member agency, Newcastle Anglican, provides support to the local community through a wide range of services, including Samaritans Emergency Relief Centres.
Samaritans Emergency Relief Coordinator Beth Hanna said the high cost of rentals had forced many people to skip meals and forgo medication.
“It’s sad but I understand why that happens because if you are worried about where you are going to sleep at night, it’s very difficult to keep the rest of your life on track,” she said.
“With winter coming on, I can see that the added expense of trying to heat somewhere is only going to make that worse.
“We’re here to help you, so please get in touch.
"When people come through our doors for the first time, there’s often a level of stigma or they’re feeling that someone is worse off than them.
“But we’re here to help in whatever way we can.”
Samaritans Emergency Relief helps put food on the table through donations and vouchers and assists with medical expenses and electricity bills.
Beth said this would not be possible without the community’s ongoing generosity.
“We’re very fortunate and I’m constantly surprised at how generous the community is when everybody, to some degree, is experiencing the cost-of-living crisis,” she said.
“We are well supported with food donations by local parishes, organisations and individuals – it’s amazing and heartwarming to see that people can continue to do that despite things getting tighter for everybody.”
You can view Anglicare Australia’s full Rental Affordability Snapshot here.