This dataset presents the Rental Affordability Index (RAI) for 3 bedroom dwellings. The data uses a single median income value for all of Australia (enabling comparisons across regions), and spans the quarters Q1 2011 to Q2 2021. The RAI covers all states with available data, the Northern Territory does not form part of this dataset.
National Shelter, Bendigo Bank, The Brotherhood of St Laurence, and SGS Economics and Planning have released the RentalAffordability Index (RAI) on a biannual basis since 2015. Since 2019, the RAI has been released annually.
It is generally accepted that if housing costs exceed 30% of a low-income household's gross income, the household is experiencing housing stress (30/40 rule). That is, housing is unaffordable and housing costs consume a disproportionately high amount of household income. The RAI uses the 30 per cent of income rule. Rental affordability is calculated using the following equation, where 'qualifying income' refers to the household income required to pay rent where rent is equal to 30% of income:
RAI = (Median income ∕ Qualifying Income) x 100
In the RAI, households who are paying 30% of income on rent have a score of 100, indicating that these households are at the critical threshold for housing stress. A score of 100 or less indicates that households would pay more than 30% of income to access a rental dwelling, meaning they are at risk of experiencing housing stress.
For more information on the Rental Affordability Index please refer to SGS Economics and Planning.
The RAI is a price index for housing rental markets. It is a clear and concise indicator of rental affordability relative to household incomes, applied to geographic areas across Australia.
AURIN has spatially enabled the original data using geometries provided by SGS Economics and Planning. Values of 'NA' in the original data have been set to NULL.