Large swathes of the Surf Coast and Bellarine remain the most expensive regional areas for renters.
The latest Rental Affordability Index from National Shelter – SGS Economics and Planning shows that Torquay and Ocean Grove are considered ‘severely unaffordable’, as is Apollo Bay which is new entrant to that bracket.
Authors of the ninth annual rental snapshot say that since 2019 affordability in Apollo Bay has dropped from ‘acceptable’ to ‘severely unaffordable’.
Home lease costs are now so great that the average household in Torquay, Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove is having to spend over 38 per cent of their household income on it.
“These stark figures show Victoria’s housing and rental affordability crisis continuing to plumb new depths and everybody – families, workers and the broader economy – is losing out,” National Shelter CEO Emma Greenhalgh said.
“People who are priced out of metropolitan Melbourne would usually look to regional areas….but now only three very small areas of Victoria are considered affordable.”
Kerang in the north, Nhil in the far north west and Numurkah north of Shepparton are the only regional areas where rent comprises up to 15 per cent of household income.
Other coastal towns such as Anglesea are considered ‘unaffordable’, as is Newtown, South Geelong, Lara and Bannockburn.
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