Methodology

What a figure means

The headline figure is the median weekly rent of new bonds lodged in a quarter. A bond is lodged when a lease starts, so this is the rent new tenants agreed to pay. It is not the rent all current tenants pay, and it is not an asking rent.

• Published by the state: Queensland, South Australia and the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) publish this figure themselves. The site shows theirs.
• Calculated by us: Tasmania publishes every bond, so we compute the figure the same way: all bonds lodged in the quarter, for the area and group, and their median.
• NSW: pages show DCJ’s published figures.
  • DCJ places each bond by its geocoded address and has quarterly history from September 2017, including councils.
  • We also compute NSW figures from NSW Fair Trading’s bond records, as a cross-check and for the state-wide trend.
  • The two agree within $10 for 92% of postcode quarters and within $25 for 98%. The bond sets differ slightly because the bond records carry the postcode written on the bond.
• The site always says which: for example “published by the RTA” or “calculated from Tasmanian bond records”.

Quarters are calendar quarters (March, June, September, December), dated by the lodgement date.

Places

• Postcodes, suburbs and councils come from the ABS: postal areas and suburbs and localities 2021, and local government areas 2025.
• Links between places (which suburbs a postcode covers, which council a suburb is in) come from the mesh blocks they share. Each link is weighted by the dwellings in those mesh blocks at the 2021 Census.
• Places that cross a border: a postcode or suburb spanning two states or councils belongs to the one holding most of its dwellings. The others are still listed on its page.
• Matching the states’ names to places: each state’s own place names are matched to ABS places by name within the state.
  • Matches ignore case, punctuation and spacing, and a council’s kind (“Shire”, “Regional”).
  • A postcode in the name settles places that share a name.
  • Without a postcode, a shared name goes to the place holding at least 90% of their dwellings, or stays unmatched.
  • Renamed councils are listed in the code.
  • Unmatched names (post office names, old localities, misspellings) are left out and listed in the log: about 0.25% of published figures.
• Tasmanian councils: bonds count towards the council holding most of their suburb’s dwellings.
• NSW suburb pages: NSW publishes postcodes, not suburbs. These pages show the postcode’s figures and name the other suburbs that share it.

Groups

Bedrooms are 1, 2, 3 and 4 or more. Each group can also be shown for all bedroom counts.

• Each state’s own codes map to these groups. The mapping is listed on the sources page.
• A state that does not split a group (Queensland has no 1-bedroom house) shows nothing for it.
• Rooms, garages, car spaces and bedsitters count in “All” only.
• Bedroom numbers: 4 to 12 count as 4 or more. Larger numbers are taken as errors and count in “All” only.
• Queensland’s top band: the RTA’s “House 4” and similar labels are read as 4 or more bedrooms.
• South Australia: SA has no townhouse group; townhouses sit within its flats or houses.

Small samples

• Fewer than 10 bonds: no median is shown, matching the states’ own rules.
• 10 to 29 bonds: the median is shown and marked “small sample”.
• States’ own suppression: where a state hid a figure, we show it as not published, never as zero.

Change

• Change compares the same quarter a year earlier: 1, 3 and 5 years. Rents are seasonal, so quarter-on-quarter change misleads; the RTA says the same.
• How it is written: as a percentage, rounded to one decimal place. Rises are red with an up arrow; falls are green with a down arrow.
• When it is left out: if either quarter has fewer than 10 bonds, or either side is a small sample, no change is shown.

Context figures

• Census 2021 median weekly rent: for every postcode and suburb, as the ABS published it. It covers all renting households, not new leases, so it sits beside the bond figure as context and is never compared as a change. In WA, the ACT and the NT it is the only figure, labelled with its year.
• Rent to income, 2021: the 2021 Census median weekly rent over the 2021 Census median weekly household income, both from the same Census. It replaced a share that divided the current rent by 2021 income and so overstated it (Josh, 11 Oct 2026).
• Rents since the Census, beside wages: the change in the all-dwellings median from the September quarter 2021 (the Census quarter) to the latest quarter that also has a Wage Price Index figure, beside the change in the state’s Wage Price Index (total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses, all sectors) over the same quarters. Both ends must meet the change rules (no small samples). The wage change is shown plainly, not in the red and green that mean dearer or cheaper rent.
• New leases: the number of new bonds in the quarter, as a measure of how active the rental market is.
• Rank: an area’s place in its state, for the same group and quarter, among areas with at least 30 bonds.

Rent check

The rent check places a weekly rent among new leases for the same kind of home in the same place.

• NSW and Tasmania: each bond is published, so the check uses every new lease in the latest four complete quarters. It says roughly what share of them cost less, to the nearest 5%, and “at least 90%” at either end. The median it quotes is for that whole year, so it can differ from the latest quarter’s median shown above it on the page. It needs at least 30 leases in the group.
• Queensland and South Australia: the check compares with the latest quarter’s published median, and with the middle half where the state publishes quartiles.
  • Within 5% of the median, a rent counts as close to it.
  • A median from fewer than 30 leases is flagged as a rough guide.
• New leases only: the check always says this, because longer tenancies usually pay less.
• Privacy: it runs in the browser; the rent entered is not sent anywhere.

Affordability finder

“Where can I afford?” lists the places with pages in the chosen area whose median weekly rent of new leases, in the latest quarter, for the chosen kind of home, is at or under the budget, cheapest first.

• Medians from 10 to 29 leases are marked as small samples.
• The page reminds readers that half of new leases cost less than the median, so a place just over budget may still have homes within it.

Market reports

Each quarter’s report is written automatically from the figures, for the quarters every covered state has published (the latest eight).

• What it says:
  • each state’s all-dwellings median and its change on a year and on the quarter;
  • how that quarter usually sits against the trend: its median over the centred four-quarter average (a 2×4 moving average), averaged over the quarters before it, so a seasonal dip is not read as a fall. A calendar-year average was used until 11 Oct 2026 and carried the rising trend into the comparison (Queensland’s March quarter read −2.6% that way, −0.3% centred);
  • new leases against the same quarter a year earlier;
  • 2-bedroom units and 3-bedroom houses.
• Rises and falls: the largest changes on a year among postcodes and suburbs with pages and 100 or more new leases. Figures marked for review are left out.

Rankings

Ranking pages list the places with pages in a capital city by one figure in the latest quarter. Only places with 30 or more new leases in that group are ranked, so a handful of leases never tops a list. A ranking needs at least five places.

Which places have pages

• A place has its own page when its state publishes an all-dwellings median for it in at least two of the latest four quarters.
• Smaller places are not left out. They count in their council’s or postcode’s figures, they are named on that page, and search sends them there.

Report analyses (for the paid report, R7.3; approved by Josh 11 Oct 2026)

For the suburb report (PLAN R7). None is on the site except rent against wages, which replaced the old income share (Context figures). The numbers in brackets are checks run on 10 October 2026, to show the figure behaves.

• Long-run growth.
  • What it is: the change in the all-dwellings median over 1, 3, 5 and 10 years, on the same quarter as now.
  • Annual rate: also given as a yearly rate, (now / then)^(1/years) - 1.
  • Shown beside the ABS CPI rents index for the capital city over the same period: monthly from July 2022, otherwise Australia quarterly.
  • How it is labelled: the CPI measures all current leases, while ours are new leases, which usually move faster. The page says so.
  • When it is left out: a period is shown only if both ends meet the change rules.
  • (Surry Hills 2010 over three years: new leases +18.5%; Sydney CPI rents +15.6%.)
• Rent against wages. On the site since 11 Oct 2026; defined under Context figures.
  • Report version: the same pair, plus the state and capital city.
  • (Surry Hills 2010, September 2021 to June 2026: rents +52.3%, NSW wages +16.6%.)
• Bedroom and dwelling steps.
  • What it is: the extra cost of the next bedroom (1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4+) within a dwelling type, and of a 3-bedroom house over a 2-bedroom unit.
  • How: the ratio of medians, averaged over the latest four quarters in which both groups have 30 or more leases. At least two such quarters are needed.
  • (Sydney median postcode: 1 to 2-bedroom unit +15%, 2-bedroom unit to 3-bedroom house +19%; only 12 Sydney postcodes qualify, so the city figure is the fallback.)
• Spread of rents: the deciles already used by the rent check, from bond records (NSW and Tasmania only).
• When to sign.
  • What it is: how the median of new leases signed in each calendar month sits against the median of the 12 months centred on it, averaged over at least three years.
  • Leasing activity: each month’s share of the year’s leases, shown beside it.
  • Where: capital city and rest of state, from bond records (NSW and Tasmania). Postcodes are too noisy.
  • Queensland and SA (approved by Josh 11 Oct 2026): only quarterly medians are published, so the report shows each quarter against a centred four-quarter average (a 2×4 moving average) of the state median, over the latest seven years.
  • (NSW 2021 to 2025: January–February and July–August run 1–2% dearer; November–December and March–April 0.5–1% cheaper; February has the most leases, 9.3%.)
• Lease activity.
  • What it is: new leases in the latest four quarters per 100 privately rented homes in the 2021 Census (table G37, landlord a real estate agent or a private person).
  • How it is labelled: a measure of how often rentals change hands, labelled with the Census year.
  • When it is left out: places with fewer than 200 rented homes.
  • (Median place, new leases in the year to June 2026 per 100 privately rented homes: NSW 34, Queensland 39, SA 35, Tasmania 34.)
• Gross rental yield.
  • What it is: the median weekly rent × 52 / the median sale price, for the same postcode and quarter.
  • Pairing: units with strata sales, houses with non-strata sales. Strata also includes townhouses, and the page says so.
  • When it is left out: when the sale count is “s” or “-” (30 or fewer sales), or the rent median is a small sample.
  • Where: NSW (DCJ sales tables) and Adelaide houses (SA metro sales, where 30 or more sales).
  • Called gross: before costs, vacancy and tax.
  • Not published until DCJ confirms the sales tables’ licence.
  • (March 2026: Surry Hills units 4.3%; Liverpool 2170 units 5.2%, houses 2.8%. NSW units: 119 postcodes qualify, median 4.2%. Adelaide: only 40 suburbs reach 30 house sales in a quarter.)
  • Which sale figure: the one from the most recently published file (sale_latest), because SA restates the year-ago quarter.

Capital city figures (proposed 11 Oct 2026; needs Josh’s approval)

For one hub page per capital (/sydney, /brisbane, /adelaide, /hobart, docs/SEO.md section 3). Each uses its state’s headline source, so a city figure agrees with that state’s other pages.

• Sydney: published by NSW DCJ.
  • The rent tables’ council sheet has Greater Sydney rows: quartiles, median and new bonds by dwelling and bedrooms.
  • Also published are the Inner, Middle and Outer Ring rows, shown as context.
  • The parser keeps these rows as geo_kind = 'city' (today it keeps only the state total).
• Adelaide: published by the SA Housing Trust.
  • The Private Rent Report’s Region sheet has “Metro Total”: counts and medians by dwelling and bedrooms.
  • SA defines metro Adelaide as its Northern, Western, Eastern and Southern Adelaide regions. That is close to the ABS Greater Adelaide, but not identical, and the page says so.
• Hobart: calculated from Tasmanian bond records, as for every Tasmanian figure. It is the median of all new bonds in postcodes whose homes are mostly in Greater Hobart (ABS GCCSA), by quarter, dwelling and bedrooms, with the usual sample rules.
• Brisbane: no single figure. The RTA publishes councils, suburbs and postcodes, but no Greater Brisbane total, and medians cannot be combined.
  • The page shows the five councils that make up Greater Brisbane (Brisbane, Ipswich, Logan, Moreton Bay, Redland) side by side, with Queensland.
  • It says plainly why there is no single figure.
  • It never averages medians.
• Changes and ranks: as for every figure (same quarter a year earlier; small samples marked).

Quality checks

• Not used in medians: weekly rents under $50 or over $20,000. They are flagged, with the reason kept. The ceiling was $5,000 until 10 October 2026 .
• Sent to review: a quarter whose median moves more than 40% from a year earlier, on at least 30 bonds.
• Community housing in the Tasmanian files is left out.

Victoria

• The measure differs: Homes Victoria publishes 12-month moving medians by suburb group. If its licence is confirmed, those figures are shown and labelled as such.
• No ranking across states: they are never ranked against other states’ figures.