1380.0.55.013 - Perspectives on Regional Australia: Housing Arrangements - Rental Rates in Local Government Areas, 2011  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 08/04/2014  First Issue
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Median weekly rental payments

  • In 2011, the median weekly household rent in Western Australia was $300, the second highest in the country and equal to median rents paid in New South Wales and Queensland. This compared with $285 for Australia.
  • The Local Government Area (LGA) with the highest median weekly rent in Western Australia was Cottesloe ($450 per week), located on the coast, west of the inner region of Perth. This was considerably higher than the median weekly rent costs of Western Australia and Australia. The LGAs of Perth and Nedlands also reported median weekly rents above $400 in 2011, $440 and $429 respectively.
  • As the following map shows, the highest median weekly rents were located in the Greater Perth region and surrounding areas. The lowest rents were reported in remote and very remote regions.


MEDIAN WEEKLY RENTAL PAYMENT(a), by Local Government Area, Western Australia, 2011


Map: Median weekly rental payment, by local government area, Western Australia, 2011
(a) Applicable to occupied private dwellings which were being rented (or occupied rent-free) by a member of the household. Excludes 'Visitor only' and 'Other non-classifiable' households.


Changes in median weekly rental payments

  • Between 2006 and 2011, eight out of the top ten fastest growing LGAs in median weekly rent payments in Australia were located in Western Australia. Ravensthorpe and Serpentine-Jarrahdale were the second and third fastest rental growth regions in Australia, behind Weipa in far north Queensland.
  • The median rent costs in Ravensthorpe, a shire located in the southern Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, more than doubled in cost; $109 per week in 2006 to $220 in 2011.
  • The LGA with the fastest growth in rent costs in Greater Perth was Serpentine-Jarrahdale, south east of Perth, which nearly doubled from $155 per week in 2006 to $309 in 2011, a rise of 99.4%. This LGA had the highest proportion of homes owned with a mortgage in Australia in 2011 (55.3%) and recorded one of the lowest proportions of rented dwellings (14.7%).


FASTEST GROWTH IN MEDIAN WEEKLY RENTAL PAYMENTS(a), by Local Government Area(b), Western Australia, 2006 and 2011

Local Government Area
Median Rental Payment
Change

2006
($/week)
2011
($/week)
($)
(%)

Greater Perth
Serpentine-Jarrahdale
155
309
154
99.4
Bassendean
160
300
140
87.5
Armadale
155
290
135
87.1
Wanneroo
190
350
160
84.2
Belmont
163
300
137
84.0
Rest of Western Australia
Ravensthorpe
109
220
111
101.8
Boddington
120
224
104
86.7
Exmouth
141
250
109
77.3
Capel
180
310
130
72.2
Chittering
120
200
80
66.7
Halls Creek
30
50
20
66.7
York
120
200
80
66.7

(a) Applicable to occupied private dwellings which were being rented (or occupied rent-free) by a member of the household. Excludes 'Visitor only' and 'Other non-classifiable' households.
(b) LGAs with a total occupied private dwelling count under 500 dwellings in 2011 are excluded from this table.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2006 and 2011