Perth rents have surged since 2021. We used ABS Census data to find which suburbs still offer affordable rents relative to local incomes.
Perth's rental market tightened dramatically in 2022–23, with vacancy rates falling to historic lows and median rents rising sharply. For renters, finding an affordable suburb has become increasingly difficult.
Our affordability score is built from ABS 2021 Census data — specifically median weekly rent, median household income, and the ratio between the two. While the data is from 2021 and conditions have changed, the relative rankings between suburbs tend to be stable even as absolute figures shift.
Suburbs in the outer northern corridor — , , — score well on affordability. Newer housing stock, further from the CBD, with lower established demand. The southern corridor around and shows similar patterns.
The inner suburbs tell a different story. , , and sit at the expensive end — but incomes are also higher in those areas, which partially offsets the rent premium. The affordability score captures the ratio, not the absolute number.
One important caveat: our data uses 2021 Census medians. The Western Australian rental market has changed significantly since then. We're actively investigating more current data sources — REIWA quarterly medians and SQM Research vacancy data — to supplement the census figures.
Data note: All figures in this article are derived from publicly available datasets — ABS 2021 Census, state and territory crime statistics, and OpenStreetMap. Scores are relative rankings, not absolute measurements. See the About page for full methodology.