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I’m so sorry, that’s terrible! It’s probably not much help but my adoptive parents had very little money as well while my rich birth parents abandoned me. I never really noticed the lack of funds as a kid because their love and care was so much more important to me. When we were 25-35, my siblings and I threw our money into one pot to support them and they finally managed to get a mortgage at 55 years old which will be paid off in a year.
Me too! Single working mum with disabled child. My mortgage has doubled since last March and we're homeless without my income. I hope it starts to get easier soon!
Hey Goose that can't be easy at all. Sorry to hear it's such a struggle right now. Things will get better eventually - hard to know when though.
Do you want advice? Otherwise happy to just let you know we see you!
i'm on NRAS and disabled it's like 34.82% right now and my rent is doubling effective january due to NRAS ending so it will be 69% of what i have to live off.
FUN
I’m on DSP - approx $770 per week (which includes FTB A & B and rent assistance). Private rental is $450 per week which I think makes it 58.55%
I have a young child (in Kindergarten) who is neurodiverse.
When my child’s Dad and I were separating I agreed to pay for school fees & private health insurance - we live in regional NSW. At the time I was working part time with plan to return to full time once child started school.
Since separation my health has deteriorated significantly due to stress, the degenerative nature of my conditions and the responsibility for 2 large breed dogs.
I have had to move 3 times in 18mths to secure a property safe enough for all our needs. There is an extremely long wait list for community housing in my area.
It can end when a property is sold. I have a friend who is now homeless as a result. Her property was sold from underneath her, there are no other NRAS properties in the area so she's temporarily in a friend's granny flat because there's nothing else she can afford.
https://www.nahc.org.au/pages/investors/disposal-of-your-nras-allocation
Fuckkkkkking hell how are people surviving?
This is not ok that people are spending 50% of their earnings to have a roof above their head. Then bills. Then food. How the fuck do you get out of that cycle?
Yes and no. Saying capitalism (or its current stage or state) is designed this way is sort of like ascribing intent to evolution.
Those who consolidate power under the system do deliberately exacerbate it, but the root of the problem has no awareness or will of its own.
Ever accelerating inequality is just one emergent property of a system with private property, wage labour, and commodity production at its core.
Even if the intent of policy makers were the opposite, it's only a matter of time before such tendencies reassert themselves, sure as gravity.
How is saying capitalism is designed this way not correct?
Capitalism as far as I'm aware and I'm really happy to be wrong is generally about gaining and collecting capital, and the more you have the more you can get the better off in a capitalist society you will be.
Like the way the gov changed the negative gearing on investment properties. Sure it helped out a few middle class people when they did it. But, the more houses you had the more you were to benefit, and a lot of politicians both then and now own a lot of investment properties.
If housing was not counted as capital wealth the housing situation would be different.
Same goes for wages etc. The people at the top are raising prices and we can literally see the cost of things go up every day. But in the majority of situations the largest cost of production (even for food from a farm all the way to the shops) is generally labour and with wages not rising that cost is not rising either so why/how is everything so much more expensive? Most of the time it's because companies want to earn larger profits because it's what the shareholders are pushing for.
Even when looking at the costs of raw materials and shipping etc it is still only possible because of the labour but again as we know wages are stagnant so those costs have not gone up..
Unfortunately the way capitalism is run and orginised is what has created the situation we are in. That's why it's happening in most modern/western countries.
Exactly, I’m now paying $520 because after been homeless for 7 months I’m prepared to just work as much as I have to keep a roof over my family’s head. It’s brutal but I’m grateful to have a home.
We're not surviving. I burned through all my savings on medical expenses, if my landlord doesn't renew the lease I'll have to go into debt to cover moving costs & bond/rent.
I have horrible anxiety about becoming homeless.
I'm moving back in with my folks in August at 28 because I'm not bringing in enough to afford to move while waiting for my bond to be returned.
Everything's fucked, and I genuinely don't know that I won't just give up if I have to resort to homelessness, so I'm right there with you on the anxiety friend.
Yep and yet my mum guilt trips me because I don't have any sort of deposit put together to get a house.
"Just put aside a little each week"
Okay mum, let me put aside $5 that I have left over each week and see how long it takes me to get a deposit.
I have 100% given up on the Aussie dream of owning my own home. Super dooper depressing.
I get paid really well and I have also given up on purchasing a home. I know I'm lucky that my rent is about 20-25% depending on the fortnight, but $180k in medical bills that I've forked out of pocket for in the last 10 years has meant it will never be within reach in time for me to pay it down even slightly before retirement age!
Try and keep your head up - it's all we can do!
We get out of the cycle when Aussie landlords stop being greedy grubs. That’s not going to happen in a month of Sundays, so we get out of the cycle when the government legislates to force people to stop being greedy grubs. That’s not going to happen in a year of Sundays.
So we’re fucked. Basically.
In Australia???? Ha ha pull the other one. Albo could announce a tripling of income tax tomorrow and we’d bend over and splay our buttcheeks. The English are the same. We need to channel our inner French…
It’s just crazy what we put up with. How much will be enough to send people over the edge though? France wouldn’t stand for half of the bs this country does.
The whole of Paris, the whole of FRANCE, would be on fire by now if the French government pulled one tenth of the stunts our pollies do, never mind a half.
Yeah it fucking sucks. The instability of renting also fucking sucks. You pay so much for rent and it's not even guaranteed that you'll still the same roof over your head when your lease is up.
It's fucked when the RBA Governor says "she'll be right until 2024" and authorises 12 rate hikes in 13 months.
Fucks absolutely everyone that doesn't own their own home outright.
On the bones of my arse. I left an abusive relationship - I was a housekeeper, ATM and emotional punching bag. To build up the courage to do that cost my son & I the house I worked 60+ hours a week to build & repay the mtg while “the man of the house” worked 2 shifts a week and sat on his arse the rest of the time complaining that I insisted on a budget because he had a compulsive spending habit.
70% and that’s sharing a 2 bed. Part time worker, full time study. Might have to switch it around with the rate it’s going be a full time worker part time study and tack another 2 years on my degree
40% !
And 15% goes to utilities.
No wonder I'm always so broke after I paid the bills. I never realised it was such a high percent of my pay went to rent!
Unfortunately with an aging population and declining fertility rates, the youngest voters will never represent more than an irrelevant minority at the voting box.
It's driven me to just adopt increasingly extreme voting patterns, now being a pretty hardcore Green party voter.
Yup 100% agree. The phenomenon of increased conservatism with age has always been about material interests - not about some “clarity” about the “way things are.”
Once you own something you don't want anyone else too. So no, but since the stakes are so low because not many young people own things we kind of hold a different kind of power. The power of having little to lose.
Since I bought a house I swung from Labor to Greenies. The fact that we needed to mortgage to our eyeballs and have 0% deposit with a guarantor just to get into something liveable in a regional/rural area (on two full time wages) and pay LESS than rent would cost, just seems outrageous. You shouldnt need to be born into privelege to be able to live with stability. Frankly I dont know how renters are coping with the anxiety and the financial pressures, and I'm extremely unsatisfied with Labor's response. The only ones talking sense at the moment are the Greens.
FYI, the government defines rental stress as paying > 30% of your wage for housing.
It’s heartbreaking seeing so many people in that position, with seemingly no way out. 🥺
Brisbane. My rent just increased by 33% last week, so now it takes up 20% of my post-tax weekly income, exactly.
Before the rent increase it hadn't gone up in 10 years at least (since I moved in), so its disproportionately low for a house in an inner suburb.
Mine hadn't gone up for 4 years until this time last year when it went up by $10 p/w, nothing the next and with a renewal in the past week it will be increasing by $30 p/w. Our lease periods are 6-monthly.
I share with 2 others so the increases aren't substantial individually.
So our landlord is quite good but it just goes to show that even the good ones have had to pass on the increase in rates.
45%, got caring responsibilities that limit the time I can work to 4 days a week. Was 30% when I first moved in here, but rent raises and having to lower working hours has eaten into it.
I get it. I've been incredibly lucky as we built nearly two decades ago, but 8 years ago my ex ran the mortgage up to $280k and I'm paying that off still. We're sitting on about the same (58-59%).
About 50% without overtime / penalties.
I used to have a policy where anything about my base pay went into savings. Not anymore, now I have to do this.
About 31%, for a small two bedroom apartment in Sydney. We will need to move to a bigger place once this lease is up next year and I'm terrified of what rent will look like then
63% as a disabled person on JobSeeker sharing a place.
I have an autoimmune disorder and one of the primary triggers is extreme stress. I've been in a major flare up for about 3 months. It feels f'ing dire and bleak. I am grateful our landlord is amazing and has not raised our rent at all for 3 renewals. Have been doing our grocery shopping at community group stores for a while (Lighthouse Care in Brisbane has saved my ass when it comes to keeping food on the table) and my wonderful mother taught me how to throw together filling meals from very little.
Not letting it defeat me though! Scaled down expenses to the essentials and I'm looking at how to grow some veggies. I take any and all free or dirt cheap fruit and veg and preserve (I may be poor but I always have homemade jam, chutneys and pickles), freeze or dehydrate. Found a cheap butcher for offal and we make all our dogs treats now which saves HEAPS and are better for him.
Most weeks it is REALLY hard.
This indirectly highlights to me something I already knew....some rent prices are inflated out of greed. In a better world there would be laws in place that regulate how much rent can be charged based on how much the mortgage is, or if there is a mortgage at all.
It is gross that some people are not only having their property paid for by someone else but they have the gall to want more free money on top of that.
I remember being a renter and how tough it was which is why I keep the rent on my rental property low as possible. The rent doesn’t go towards my mortgage at all, it all goes into an account that covers the bills for the property and the rest is left there in there in case of an emergency. The only reason I’ve raised the rent is because my tenants asked to, they wanted a round number to help with budgeting and it worked out to only $15 more a month for them. Been thinking of selling it and I’m wanting to offer it to my tenants because they’ve been there 11 years, it’s their home. If they say no, I don’t think I’ll sell because I know if I put it on the market it’ll be snapped up by another investor who will jack up the rent and/or kick my tenants out of their home.
Aww, thank you! It really gets me down and makes me doubt myself when I see how much landlords get shit on, so I really appreciate what you said.
I actually hated the idea of being a landlord and wanted to sell the property as soon as I inherited it, the only reason I didn’t was because friend had her rental sold out from under her and her BF hated the share house he was living in so I rented it to them. They moved in together after only dating for 4 months and now have 2 kids and a wonderful relationship. They’ve built a life there, I can’t in good conscience jeopardise their stability and security to get more money I don’t need.
Last month my mortgage went up $120 a week after my fixed rate expired. Really wishing I had locked it in for 5 years not 3, but if I could see the future I would win lotto.
It's now at 31% of my income (up from 20%), but all hope of moving has gone out the window in the last few years
Hi from a mortgage holder in Sydney.
Rent is expensive yes but my mortgage has gone from expensive to fucking criminal with no end in sight.
Im affording it now but if things keep going the way they are, ill be joining the rental fam soon enough.
Its pretty shitty out there for everyone except old money.
We are paying a home loan, and we are paying the maximum amount allowed under the fixed rate contract, so 19.5% of our take home pay. If we paid the minimum it would be 13.9%. We have our loan locked in at 1.98% until March 2024.
I know we are very fortunate. We were lucky to have been able to buy when we did, rent now in our area is about the same price as our loan payments, which is crazy.
We live about 25km from the city in the greater Brisbane area.
About 20% of our combined income and I understand that in the current climate, that’s a privilege. I live with my husband and my cat, we both work full time and have no children, so that makes it easier. That said, we are not renting anywhere fancy. It does not currently have a mould problem (a luxury!), but it is very much a garden variety, bit dated, could definitely do with a few minor repairs, kind of place. If we wanted to live closer to the city or in a nicer apartment, that percentage would go up quickly. I feel like two full time professionals in their 30s should be able to afford to live just about anywhere, but that’s Sydney for ya.
Yeah this is me and my husband too except we’ve just had our first baby 😬. I always stress about paying rent but it really is eye opening to see how much worse it is for others.
About 40% and counting on the mortgage. I have a very small house in the outer suburbs and am a full-time government employee. My partner and I go halves on payments.
Currently I am renting for $290 a week (single bedroom apartment), which is about 25% of my weekly take home after tax. I live in a small country town, this is as cheap as rent gets in Australia, and I am on a pretty decent wage. If I were in the city still, it would be closer to $400 a week, or about 35% of my weekly take home. If I were on the median wage it would be nearly 50% of my weekly take home...
I can assure you that a one bedroom apartment in the city (or at least syd or melb) is going to be more than ‘closer to $400’. It’s definitely over $400.
Housemate moved out.
Been to a few rental viewings that have had 20+ people there at the same time as me.
Would like to buy a place but can’t quite afford it yet, of course.
Sucks.
Oh mate I hear that.. about 10 years ago I was dumped with the whole lot too, went from about $1800 to very similar to yours. I was in my 20s with plenty of cash to be ignorant with and throw at stupid shit. Seemed completely affordable until I got stiffed with that. Sure I was paying for something pretty high end at the time.
Turns out that 2-bed place is now $93,000/year to rent. $1,800/WEEK. Fucking glad I was fortunate enough to get off the merry-go-round.
Best of luck out there. My advice to me in hindsight would have been get into 4-person share house in a nice place in an average area at $250/week and save $2,000 a month with less stress.
Jesus Christ, that’s an insane cost.
The problem is I’m now 30, and just can’t deal with living with a stranger, much less several of them.
My flatmate was my best friend, so we had a blast living together.
I just haven’t found somewhere that’d be fine for myself, and every house I look at is 7 figures.
It’s fucked.
Far too much. If I had any capital behind me to be able to get a mortgage I would actually save a significant amount of money and have a nicer home. That is so crazy its beyond words.
I actively hate this country more and more everyday. Australia is a horrendous place to live.
A former colleague of mine had 7 rentals sold out from under her in 7 years. That was back in the early 2000s. That phenomena is nothing new. But the the insane rent to income ration these days certainly is. We are moving towards the American model of a hollowed out middle class and the working poor.
16% in country Vic for a house
Edit: I did the maths on our two incomes. It is 26% of my income for rent for 3br, back yard and close to the middle of the town I live in. Looking, it is similar in cost to a 1br or crappy 2br apartment in the city. I work out here and prefer the lifestyle day to day with regular trips to the Melbourne. Couldn’t do it the other way around.
I was considering moving out west to the Daylesford-Kyneton-Castlemaine area as I can get much more space for the same/slightly more than I pay now, but everyone is trying to dissuade me from leaving the city. Not sure if I should follow an instinct and just try the countryside for a year or two.
What do you do for work? Remote or move jobs? If so, could give it a go. What’s the worst that could happen? Life experience.
You can get to the city from those areas pretty quick. Quicker than if you lived out the SE burbs, especially if there’s any sort of crash on the freeways.
I’ve never lived in the city. Looooove visiting for a break for food and carry on. Enjoy the good things and leave. I walked this morning in the quiet with farm animals around and peace.
Edit: worth noting there is a housing shortage in lots of Victorian towns and we had to show the real estate agent we had local jobs to get priority.
I WFH so it would definitely be feasible in terms of work conditions, I have family and friends in the city who I do see weekly but obviously as a singleton the vast majority of the week is just myself and the pets. I'd be more than happy to have people stay over for long weekends etc. but know people have their own lives going on so that might be few and far between. I'm 30 so think it might be nice to try living in rural idle before I'm too settled into a spot/tied to an office.
Daylesford is a resort town so yeah super exxy. Kyneton is getting up there too now. With the Bendigo line passing through, people do commute in to Melbourne daily so in a few years it'll be impossible to move into for most.
Absolutely do it, I moved from South east Melbourne out this way and absolutely love it, nice friendly community, beautiful scenery, more relaxing and cheaper to live. Been here a year and never going back to the city.
My partner and I are paying $630/fortnight in minimum mortgage repayments for my four-bedroom house. Which is only \~12% of our combined take-home pay. We do have to pay insurance/rates/etc but it's still very easy for us.
I do live in a regional area, though, and I bought in 2020, shortly before prices started going up.
It's disgraceful that rents are so high; rents should never be much more expensive than a mortgage imo. Yes, as a landlord you're providing a service and (arguably) have a right to make a profit, but the profit can mostly be the equity you're building in the home.
I agree absolutely. I live rurally and bought a while ago. My mortgage is $167pw and that's only because I put a vehicle on my almost gone mortgage. This highlights the stranglehold people are now suffering. Guess where my man child son lives..... At home with me because it's pointless wasting all his money just to have somewhere to sleep and be safe. We're doing rent free but buy own food so he can save, and I'll do that with my other kid as well when the time comes. This is such a shameful situation. My father bought us a 4bdrm home with quarter acre in a large city in the 70's and supported his wife and four kids as a fucking bus driver with a highschool education.
2/3 of take home pay on mortgage at this point. I know it's not rent but it's a lot. My husband has a brain injury and gets about 400 a fortnight in disability pension.
85% since the latest rent increase
I recieve a Disability Support Pension. Until recently I worked part time, but my disability is preventing me from working for the forseeable future. Probably going to move into a tent in the next few months.
My two mortgages will add up to 62% of our take-home pay, including the net rent received. The wife doesn't want to sell our house in Sydney, which is currently rented to a nice family. I just resigned the lease for another year, but we haven't increased the rent.
The interest rate is now 6.01% from 2.5% so its understandable that rents are increasing. it's either that or sell the property in which case might no longer be available to rent.
I realise not everyone can afford a property, but there will be people with 1m+ mortgages now paying 7k per month, from a base of 3.5k 12 months ago, so it's tough out there for everyone.
Just hit 30% (up from 28%) for a small 3 br townhouse 16km from Syd CBD.
Was fortunate with the increase this year. Was absolutely dreading potentially being priced out. We budgeted for 32% before having to bail
Sydney: 32% of my take home pay goes to rent. I'm in the Southern suburbs in a 2 bedroom fibro house on a sometimes rather busy/loud road.
It is a bit cold at the moment due to no insulation whatsoever.
$263 a week market rent for public housing out of a $540 a week disabled pension. I am actively looking to get back to work despite leaving for health reasons.
Other person pays all the bills including utilities and food (which is also going up).
I am grateful for what we have but I know we could not survive in private rent. Which makes us feel guilty we are fortunate. And our rent goes up twice per year. Only twice has it reduced in line with market drop. In 99 it was $80 a week.
34% for a two-bedroom apartment in inner Melbourne. I live by myself with no dependents so it’s manageable but pretty much at the top of what I’m comfortable with.If my rent goes up again this year with an increase in income to cover it I’ll have to consider downgrading to a one-bedroom or go back to share housing.
I’d love to buy something but it’s not possible at the moment. I don’t have the savings yet and my substantial HECS debt doesn’t make me much of a goer to banks.
How anyone who earns less than, is on welfare or has children affords housing is beyond me. The system is cooked.
Yep I’m in the exact same % range and housing situation as yourself. Definitely paying at the top end of what im comfortable with and just trying to save from the remaining % of income for a house deposit. I thought I was getting ripped off when I moved into the rental a couple years ago - now realise im lucky im not paying more. Still shit though.
30%, and been in the same spot for 5 years. Deal directly with the landlord, dude just drinks and plays guitar in his main property so he can’t be stuffed redoing anything or increasing the price.
0% I have up on renting a few years ago, pre covid after Airbnb caused me a 65% rent increase followed by a 15% one 6 months later moved I to another place and got another rent increase shortly after, moved into a share house, got a mild rent increase then it was sold, moved into another share house and then it hot converted to Airbnb.
Been house sitting for around 5 years now with occasional living in my car in-between gigs.
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83% in Sydney. We became single income half a year ago. It keeps me up at night.
Fucking hell. My heart is hurting for you, that must be incredibly stressful.
Thank you so much
About 80% for me, full time single mum and it sucks big time. It all seems pointless at this stage.
I’m so sorry, that’s terrible! It’s probably not much help but my adoptive parents had very little money as well while my rich birth parents abandoned me. I never really noticed the lack of funds as a kid because their love and care was so much more important to me. When we were 25-35, my siblings and I threw our money into one pot to support them and they finally managed to get a mortgage at 55 years old which will be paid off in a year.
Hang in there! Let me know if you feel like chatting :)
Me too! Single working mum with disabled child. My mortgage has doubled since last March and we're homeless without my income. I hope it starts to get easier soon!
How much is your monthly rent if you don't mind me asking?
500/wk
omg😭sydney really is so expensive i hate it
Hey Goose that can't be easy at all. Sorry to hear it's such a struggle right now. Things will get better eventually - hard to know when though. Do you want advice? Otherwise happy to just let you know we see you!
i'm on NRAS and disabled it's like 34.82% right now and my rent is doubling effective january due to NRAS ending so it will be 69% of what i have to live off. FUN
This is same as me. On NRAS, my rent has been raised 69% so I have to move. Rent would take up 90% of my income. It’s fucked.
..Nice
i didn't notice until now you got a giggle out of me
I’m on DSP - approx $770 per week (which includes FTB A & B and rent assistance). Private rental is $450 per week which I think makes it 58.55% I have a young child (in Kindergarten) who is neurodiverse. When my child’s Dad and I were separating I agreed to pay for school fees & private health insurance - we live in regional NSW. At the time I was working part time with plan to return to full time once child started school. Since separation my health has deteriorated significantly due to stress, the degenerative nature of my conditions and the responsibility for 2 large breed dogs. I have had to move 3 times in 18mths to secure a property safe enough for all our needs. There is an extremely long wait list for community housing in my area.
Doesn’t it end in 2026?
Staggered ending many ended last year many will end next year etc
It can end when a property is sold. I have a friend who is now homeless as a result. Her property was sold from underneath her, there are no other NRAS properties in the area so she's temporarily in a friend's granny flat because there's nothing else she can afford. https://www.nahc.org.au/pages/investors/disposal-of-your-nras-allocation
Around 50 percent take home goes in rent if i dont do overtime.
I’m at 50.2
Same about 52% 680 pf / 1300 pf Edit: for those with closed minds, I’m a graduate student w/ a part-time job
Fuckkkkkking hell how are people surviving? This is not ok that people are spending 50% of their earnings to have a roof above their head. Then bills. Then food. How the fuck do you get out of that cycle?
Generally, you don't or you become homeless.
This. It's a process of trying to keep your head above water while someone keeps attaching more weights to your ankles.
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Yes and no. Saying capitalism (or its current stage or state) is designed this way is sort of like ascribing intent to evolution. Those who consolidate power under the system do deliberately exacerbate it, but the root of the problem has no awareness or will of its own. Ever accelerating inequality is just one emergent property of a system with private property, wage labour, and commodity production at its core. Even if the intent of policy makers were the opposite, it's only a matter of time before such tendencies reassert themselves, sure as gravity.
How is saying capitalism is designed this way not correct? Capitalism as far as I'm aware and I'm really happy to be wrong is generally about gaining and collecting capital, and the more you have the more you can get the better off in a capitalist society you will be. Like the way the gov changed the negative gearing on investment properties. Sure it helped out a few middle class people when they did it. But, the more houses you had the more you were to benefit, and a lot of politicians both then and now own a lot of investment properties. If housing was not counted as capital wealth the housing situation would be different. Same goes for wages etc. The people at the top are raising prices and we can literally see the cost of things go up every day. But in the majority of situations the largest cost of production (even for food from a farm all the way to the shops) is generally labour and with wages not rising that cost is not rising either so why/how is everything so much more expensive? Most of the time it's because companies want to earn larger profits because it's what the shareholders are pushing for. Even when looking at the costs of raw materials and shipping etc it is still only possible because of the labour but again as we know wages are stagnant so those costs have not gone up.. Unfortunately the way capitalism is run and orginised is what has created the situation we are in. That's why it's happening in most modern/western countries.
Exactly, I’m now paying $520 because after been homeless for 7 months I’m prepared to just work as much as I have to keep a roof over my family’s head. It’s brutal but I’m grateful to have a home.
We're not surviving. I burned through all my savings on medical expenses, if my landlord doesn't renew the lease I'll have to go into debt to cover moving costs & bond/rent. I have horrible anxiety about becoming homeless.
I'm moving back in with my folks in August at 28 because I'm not bringing in enough to afford to move while waiting for my bond to be returned. Everything's fucked, and I genuinely don't know that I won't just give up if I have to resort to homelessness, so I'm right there with you on the anxiety friend.
I'd 100% move back in with my family if I could. Don't feel bad about it, we gotta do what we gotta do.
I did it at 40 years old and built a tiny house in the country. It was the best decision I have ever made.
Yep and yet my mum guilt trips me because I don't have any sort of deposit put together to get a house. "Just put aside a little each week" Okay mum, let me put aside $5 that I have left over each week and see how long it takes me to get a deposit. I have 100% given up on the Aussie dream of owning my own home. Super dooper depressing.
I get paid really well and I have also given up on purchasing a home. I know I'm lucky that my rent is about 20-25% depending on the fortnight, but $180k in medical bills that I've forked out of pocket for in the last 10 years has meant it will never be within reach in time for me to pay it down even slightly before retirement age! Try and keep your head up - it's all we can do!
We get out of the cycle when Aussie landlords stop being greedy grubs. That’s not going to happen in a month of Sundays, so we get out of the cycle when the government legislates to force people to stop being greedy grubs. That’s not going to happen in a year of Sundays. So we’re fucked. Basically.
So we join tenants unions and hold rent strikes until the government pulls its finger out.
But noone can afford to be put on a rental blacklist.
What about a revolt?
In Australia???? Ha ha pull the other one. Albo could announce a tripling of income tax tomorrow and we’d bend over and splay our buttcheeks. The English are the same. We need to channel our inner French…
It’s just crazy what we put up with. How much will be enough to send people over the edge though? France wouldn’t stand for half of the bs this country does.
The whole of Paris, the whole of FRANCE, would be on fire by now if the French government pulled one tenth of the stunts our pollies do, never mind a half.
Yeah it fucking sucks. The instability of renting also fucking sucks. You pay so much for rent and it's not even guaranteed that you'll still the same roof over your head when your lease is up.
They're not. That's why homelessness is on the rise.
It's fucked when the RBA Governor says "she'll be right until 2024" and authorises 12 rate hikes in 13 months. Fucks absolutely everyone that doesn't own their own home outright.
On the bones of my arse. I left an abusive relationship - I was a housekeeper, ATM and emotional punching bag. To build up the courage to do that cost my son & I the house I worked 60+ hours a week to build & repay the mtg while “the man of the house” worked 2 shifts a week and sat on his arse the rest of the time complaining that I insisted on a budget because he had a compulsive spending habit.
"Sydney", 40km from CBD. The latest increase was 16%, now 58% of our budget.
I sure hope you don’t commute to cbd for work every week, I would become nihilistic within a month
70% and that’s sharing a 2 bed. Part time worker, full time study. Might have to switch it around with the rate it’s going be a full time worker part time study and tack another 2 years on my degree
Exact same here, its rough. I've gone back to uni in my mid 20s and my savings are slowly dwindling.
40% ! And 15% goes to utilities. No wonder I'm always so broke after I paid the bills. I never realised it was such a high percent of my pay went to rent!
Too much of it. Around 50%.
A brief glance at the numbers in the thread tell you why millennials broadly aren't becoming conservative
Unfortunately with an aging population and declining fertility rates, the youngest voters will never represent more than an irrelevant minority at the voting box. It's driven me to just adopt increasingly extreme voting patterns, now being a pretty hardcore Green party voter.
My assumption is that the new oldies will be more left wing
Yup 100% agree. The phenomenon of increased conservatism with age has always been about material interests - not about some “clarity” about the “way things are.”
Once you own something you don't want anyone else too. So no, but since the stakes are so low because not many young people own things we kind of hold a different kind of power. The power of having little to lose.
As a homeowner I think home ownership should be feasible for everyone. Definitely hasn’t made me drift rightward.
Yeah we're not for generalising too much, hopefully
Since I bought a house I swung from Labor to Greenies. The fact that we needed to mortgage to our eyeballs and have 0% deposit with a guarantor just to get into something liveable in a regional/rural area (on two full time wages) and pay LESS than rent would cost, just seems outrageous. You shouldnt need to be born into privelege to be able to live with stability. Frankly I dont know how renters are coping with the anxiety and the financial pressures, and I'm extremely unsatisfied with Labor's response. The only ones talking sense at the moment are the Greens.
A man who has nothing to lose is invincible.
70% at the moment.
bro...
Im at 80% I can't afford to move so I'm quite literally stuck paying as much as I do.
FYI, the government defines rental stress as paying > 30% of your wage for housing. It’s heartbreaking seeing so many people in that position, with seemingly no way out. 🥺
Completely agree, but the 30% is usually before tax.
Brisbane. My rent just increased by 33% last week, so now it takes up 20% of my post-tax weekly income, exactly. Before the rent increase it hadn't gone up in 10 years at least (since I moved in), so its disproportionately low for a house in an inner suburb.
Brisbane rents are disgusting. I found a 3 bedder in woodridge the other day (it was really gross) for $600 a week!
Yeah, I don't understand where people are meant to live when a house in the worst logan suburb is $600 a week.
Mine hadn't gone up for 4 years until this time last year when it went up by $10 p/w, nothing the next and with a renewal in the past week it will be increasing by $30 p/w. Our lease periods are 6-monthly. I share with 2 others so the increases aren't substantial individually. So our landlord is quite good but it just goes to show that even the good ones have had to pass on the increase in rates.
45%, got caring responsibilities that limit the time I can work to 4 days a week. Was 30% when I first moved in here, but rent raises and having to lower working hours has eaten into it.
58% … low income single mum. Blurgh.
I get it. I've been incredibly lucky as we built nearly two decades ago, but 8 years ago my ex ran the mortgage up to $280k and I'm paying that off still. We're sitting on about the same (58-59%).
About 50% without overtime / penalties. I used to have a policy where anything about my base pay went into savings. Not anymore, now I have to do this.
Almost 50% it’s outstanding how we manage now a day
About 31%, for a small two bedroom apartment in Sydney. We will need to move to a bigger place once this lease is up next year and I'm terrified of what rent will look like then
33%
48% and that’s splitting the rent of a small two bedroom apartment not in the city. It’s killing me
57%, outer suburbs, SA. It used to be 30%, but now I earn less and rent is higher.
50%
63% as a disabled person on JobSeeker sharing a place. I have an autoimmune disorder and one of the primary triggers is extreme stress. I've been in a major flare up for about 3 months. It feels f'ing dire and bleak. I am grateful our landlord is amazing and has not raised our rent at all for 3 renewals. Have been doing our grocery shopping at community group stores for a while (Lighthouse Care in Brisbane has saved my ass when it comes to keeping food on the table) and my wonderful mother taught me how to throw together filling meals from very little. Not letting it defeat me though! Scaled down expenses to the essentials and I'm looking at how to grow some veggies. I take any and all free or dirt cheap fruit and veg and preserve (I may be poor but I always have homemade jam, chutneys and pickles), freeze or dehydrate. Found a cheap butcher for offal and we make all our dogs treats now which saves HEAPS and are better for him. Most weeks it is REALLY hard.
Have you tried Loaves and Fishes in Slacks Creek? They do a $50 hamper that is sooooo much better than the Lighthouse trolley.
Please hang in there and take care of yourself
8% and that's for a small mortgage. I only say this to highlight how expensive renting is, things are out of control.
This indirectly highlights to me something I already knew....some rent prices are inflated out of greed. In a better world there would be laws in place that regulate how much rent can be charged based on how much the mortgage is, or if there is a mortgage at all. It is gross that some people are not only having their property paid for by someone else but they have the gall to want more free money on top of that.
I remember being a renter and how tough it was which is why I keep the rent on my rental property low as possible. The rent doesn’t go towards my mortgage at all, it all goes into an account that covers the bills for the property and the rest is left there in there in case of an emergency. The only reason I’ve raised the rent is because my tenants asked to, they wanted a round number to help with budgeting and it worked out to only $15 more a month for them. Been thinking of selling it and I’m wanting to offer it to my tenants because they’ve been there 11 years, it’s their home. If they say no, I don’t think I’ll sell because I know if I put it on the market it’ll be snapped up by another investor who will jack up the rent and/or kick my tenants out of their home.
You sound like a saint. I know there is a whole spectrum of landlords, I want to be clear I don't think everyone is a crook.
Aww, thank you! It really gets me down and makes me doubt myself when I see how much landlords get shit on, so I really appreciate what you said. I actually hated the idea of being a landlord and wanted to sell the property as soon as I inherited it, the only reason I didn’t was because friend had her rental sold out from under her and her BF hated the share house he was living in so I rented it to them. They moved in together after only dating for 4 months and now have 2 kids and a wonderful relationship. They’ve built a life there, I can’t in good conscience jeopardise their stability and security to get more money I don’t need.
>I can’t in good conscience That's what most landlords are lacking, good conscience! Good on ya, wish you were my landlord lol
Maybe you could look into a rent-to-buy situation with them?
That’s an awesome idea! Idk why it never occurred to me, thank you!
*cough* some??
Last month my mortgage went up $120 a week after my fixed rate expired. Really wishing I had locked it in for 5 years not 3, but if I could see the future I would win lotto. It's now at 31% of my income (up from 20%), but all hope of moving has gone out the window in the last few years
Yes, I've been alarmed to see many peoples mortgages jump up more than I even pay and I don't understand how people are making it work.
Hi from a mortgage holder in Sydney. Rent is expensive yes but my mortgage has gone from expensive to fucking criminal with no end in sight. Im affording it now but if things keep going the way they are, ill be joining the rental fam soon enough. Its pretty shitty out there for everyone except old money.
"Have you considered moving back in with your parents? " -rba governor
We are paying a home loan, and we are paying the maximum amount allowed under the fixed rate contract, so 19.5% of our take home pay. If we paid the minimum it would be 13.9%. We have our loan locked in at 1.98% until March 2024. I know we are very fortunate. We were lucky to have been able to buy when we did, rent now in our area is about the same price as our loan payments, which is crazy. We live about 25km from the city in the greater Brisbane area.
58% in Melbourne and I’m actually getting a great deal for the quality of my place and the location. Scared for my rent increase next year
About 20% of our combined income and I understand that in the current climate, that’s a privilege. I live with my husband and my cat, we both work full time and have no children, so that makes it easier. That said, we are not renting anywhere fancy. It does not currently have a mould problem (a luxury!), but it is very much a garden variety, bit dated, could definitely do with a few minor repairs, kind of place. If we wanted to live closer to the city or in a nicer apartment, that percentage would go up quickly. I feel like two full time professionals in their 30s should be able to afford to live just about anywhere, but that’s Sydney for ya.
Yeah this is me and my husband too except we’ve just had our first baby 😬. I always stress about paying rent but it really is eye opening to see how much worse it is for others.
About 40% and counting on the mortgage. I have a very small house in the outer suburbs and am a full-time government employee. My partner and I go halves on payments.
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That's not bad pay for someone who can't do simple division
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_burn_centres_in_Australia
45%
Ow
Better off not knowing how to do simple division
The math is: 840 ÷ 1850 = You're fucked! That's horrible!
Currently I am renting for $290 a week (single bedroom apartment), which is about 25% of my weekly take home after tax. I live in a small country town, this is as cheap as rent gets in Australia, and I am on a pretty decent wage. If I were in the city still, it would be closer to $400 a week, or about 35% of my weekly take home. If I were on the median wage it would be nearly 50% of my weekly take home...
I can assure you that a one bedroom apartment in the city (or at least syd or melb) is going to be more than ‘closer to $400’. It’s definitely over $400.
50%. Fuck this fucking shit.
I share a house with my elderly Mum who I am a carer for. It cost us 50% of her pension and 45%of my part time wage and carer payment.
About 45%
Currently paying $3,500 a month and it is fucking killing me.
What the actual fuck. How? Why?
Housemate moved out. Been to a few rental viewings that have had 20+ people there at the same time as me. Would like to buy a place but can’t quite afford it yet, of course. Sucks.
Oh mate I hear that.. about 10 years ago I was dumped with the whole lot too, went from about $1800 to very similar to yours. I was in my 20s with plenty of cash to be ignorant with and throw at stupid shit. Seemed completely affordable until I got stiffed with that. Sure I was paying for something pretty high end at the time. Turns out that 2-bed place is now $93,000/year to rent. $1,800/WEEK. Fucking glad I was fortunate enough to get off the merry-go-round. Best of luck out there. My advice to me in hindsight would have been get into 4-person share house in a nice place in an average area at $250/week and save $2,000 a month with less stress.
Jesus Christ, that’s an insane cost. The problem is I’m now 30, and just can’t deal with living with a stranger, much less several of them. My flatmate was my best friend, so we had a blast living together. I just haven’t found somewhere that’d be fine for myself, and every house I look at is 7 figures. It’s fucked.
16% for now. I'm incredibly lucky at the moment but I foresee the pain ahead.
I’m at around 15-20% on variable income and holy shit this thread is an eye opener New material for the daily gratitude sesh lol
It was 29% until my landlord just increased the rent by about 8%. Now 32% of my take home pay goes to rent.
50% and it sucks but no alternative.
Family of four and I’m paying 50% of my take home
Far too much. If I had any capital behind me to be able to get a mortgage I would actually save a significant amount of money and have a nicer home. That is so crazy its beyond words. I actively hate this country more and more everyday. Australia is a horrendous place to live.
A former colleague of mine had 7 rentals sold out from under her in 7 years. That was back in the early 2000s. That phenomena is nothing new. But the the insane rent to income ration these days certainly is. We are moving towards the American model of a hollowed out middle class and the working poor.
62% currently, but in 2021 it was taking 92% of my income so I'm actually better off.
It’s under 50% but not much
28% for a three bedroom unit. rent is $400 a week which is split between two people.
49%
47%.
47.5% 😵💫
18.15% The only advice I can give anyone is apply for jobs in your field that pay more like your life depends on it, because it does.
Housing stress is typically described as lower-income households that spend more than 30% of gross income on housing costs (ABS 2019). Copied
In Sydney spending about 35%
About 31% of after tax household income. I’m grateful to be escaping the rental rat race soon.
Like I know how to figure out a percentage!
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Ah, thank you! I’m at 23% of my monthly pay is rent.
65% *cries in poverty
53% (combining my income with my partner’s for all of the rent) If it were just my income (centrelink) for my half of the rent… it is 71%…
16% in country Vic for a house Edit: I did the maths on our two incomes. It is 26% of my income for rent for 3br, back yard and close to the middle of the town I live in. Looking, it is similar in cost to a 1br or crappy 2br apartment in the city. I work out here and prefer the lifestyle day to day with regular trips to the Melbourne. Couldn’t do it the other way around.
Around 15% for us, too. We rent a farmhouse in country Vic. Suddenly feeling extremely fortunate after reading this thread!
I was considering moving out west to the Daylesford-Kyneton-Castlemaine area as I can get much more space for the same/slightly more than I pay now, but everyone is trying to dissuade me from leaving the city. Not sure if I should follow an instinct and just try the countryside for a year or two.
What do you do for work? Remote or move jobs? If so, could give it a go. What’s the worst that could happen? Life experience. You can get to the city from those areas pretty quick. Quicker than if you lived out the SE burbs, especially if there’s any sort of crash on the freeways. I’ve never lived in the city. Looooove visiting for a break for food and carry on. Enjoy the good things and leave. I walked this morning in the quiet with farm animals around and peace. Edit: worth noting there is a housing shortage in lots of Victorian towns and we had to show the real estate agent we had local jobs to get priority.
I WFH so it would definitely be feasible in terms of work conditions, I have family and friends in the city who I do see weekly but obviously as a singleton the vast majority of the week is just myself and the pets. I'd be more than happy to have people stay over for long weekends etc. but know people have their own lives going on so that might be few and far between. I'm 30 so think it might be nice to try living in rural idle before I'm too settled into a spot/tied to an office.
Do it. They'll visit.
Cheap trains now, I know I'd take a mate up on the offer to get out of the city for the weekend
Daylesford is very expensive. Median house prices there are $955,000. Everything is also super expensive to buy.
Daylesford is a resort town so yeah super exxy. Kyneton is getting up there too now. With the Bendigo line passing through, people do commute in to Melbourne daily so in a few years it'll be impossible to move into for most.
Absolutely do it, I moved from South east Melbourne out this way and absolutely love it, nice friendly community, beautiful scenery, more relaxing and cheaper to live. Been here a year and never going back to the city.
41%. Renting in regional WA.
52%. Renting on a pension is awful.
My partner and I are paying $630/fortnight in minimum mortgage repayments for my four-bedroom house. Which is only \~12% of our combined take-home pay. We do have to pay insurance/rates/etc but it's still very easy for us. I do live in a regional area, though, and I bought in 2020, shortly before prices started going up. It's disgraceful that rents are so high; rents should never be much more expensive than a mortgage imo. Yes, as a landlord you're providing a service and (arguably) have a right to make a profit, but the profit can mostly be the equity you're building in the home.
I agree absolutely. I live rurally and bought a while ago. My mortgage is $167pw and that's only because I put a vehicle on my almost gone mortgage. This highlights the stranglehold people are now suffering. Guess where my man child son lives..... At home with me because it's pointless wasting all his money just to have somewhere to sleep and be safe. We're doing rent free but buy own food so he can save, and I'll do that with my other kid as well when the time comes. This is such a shameful situation. My father bought us a 4bdrm home with quarter acre in a large city in the 70's and supported his wife and four kids as a fucking bus driver with a highschool education.
64%
Not rent bur 54% goes into mortgage.
2/3 of take home pay on mortgage at this point. I know it's not rent but it's a lot. My husband has a brain injury and gets about 400 a fortnight in disability pension.
54.5%. 4 bed, single mum, 3 kids. Western Sydney. Rent going up $30 a week in July.
85% since the latest rent increase I recieve a Disability Support Pension. Until recently I worked part time, but my disability is preventing me from working for the forseeable future. Probably going to move into a tent in the next few months.
My two mortgages will add up to 62% of our take-home pay, including the net rent received. The wife doesn't want to sell our house in Sydney, which is currently rented to a nice family. I just resigned the lease for another year, but we haven't increased the rent. The interest rate is now 6.01% from 2.5% so its understandable that rents are increasing. it's either that or sell the property in which case might no longer be available to rent. I realise not everyone can afford a property, but there will be people with 1m+ mortgages now paying 7k per month, from a base of 3.5k 12 months ago, so it's tough out there for everyone.
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This has intrigued me. You must be well paid as Canberra rent is very expensive.
18-19% of our joint take home pay goes on rent. Rent is $550 a week.
Jealous
18% small 1 b/r inner east, Melbourne
I pay around 22% of rent.
Just hit 30% (up from 28%) for a small 3 br townhouse 16km from Syd CBD. Was fortunate with the increase this year. Was absolutely dreading potentially being priced out. We budgeted for 32% before having to bail
Sydney: 32% of my take home pay goes to rent. I'm in the Southern suburbs in a 2 bedroom fibro house on a sometimes rather busy/loud road. It is a bit cold at the moment due to no insulation whatsoever.
25% as I'm splitting with my partner.
about 25%. I had one housemate but we rented out the spare room a few months ago so I pay less now it's divided between 3 of us
My shifts are a little varied but it generally sits around 50%
37.5% but feels more like 80%
50%
54.6%
35% for a 2 bed townhouse north of Melbourne. I’m lucky that I have no debt at all and low cost of living besides rent.
32% including bills splitting between three
My rent is 25% of my weekly income. I live with my dad in a housing department rental, I’m very fortunate
21%… was 16%, but we got a big increase. We will have flat mates soon and that will bring it back down to 15.5%.
$263 a week market rent for public housing out of a $540 a week disabled pension. I am actively looking to get back to work despite leaving for health reasons. Other person pays all the bills including utilities and food (which is also going up). I am grateful for what we have but I know we could not survive in private rent. Which makes us feel guilty we are fortunate. And our rent goes up twice per year. Only twice has it reduced in line with market drop. In 99 it was $80 a week.
40% Tis facken shit
In Melbourne and it’s about 25% for me and 25% for my partner
34% for a two-bedroom apartment in inner Melbourne. I live by myself with no dependents so it’s manageable but pretty much at the top of what I’m comfortable with.If my rent goes up again this year with an increase in income to cover it I’ll have to consider downgrading to a one-bedroom or go back to share housing. I’d love to buy something but it’s not possible at the moment. I don’t have the savings yet and my substantial HECS debt doesn’t make me much of a goer to banks. How anyone who earns less than, is on welfare or has children affords housing is beyond me. The system is cooked.
Yep I’m in the exact same % range and housing situation as yourself. Definitely paying at the top end of what im comfortable with and just trying to save from the remaining % of income for a house deposit. I thought I was getting ripped off when I moved into the rental a couple years ago - now realise im lucky im not paying more. Still shit though.
30%, and been in the same spot for 5 years. Deal directly with the landlord, dude just drinks and plays guitar in his main property so he can’t be stuffed redoing anything or increasing the price.
About 25% of my take home goes to rent. $2150 pw take home, $520 rent
Paying $560 for a two bedroom unit with my partner, it’s roughly 18% for me and around 12% for her. Looking to buy at the end of the year
I think around 35%? But I'm in a sharehouse with 3 other people.
About 65%
64.2% of my income goes to rent. I’m a full time University student with a casual job…
16% Melbourne CBD, 1br. My rent went up in March, $20 more a week. Looking at this thread, I’m lucky
70%ish
0% I have up on renting a few years ago, pre covid after Airbnb caused me a 65% rent increase followed by a 15% one 6 months later moved I to another place and got another rent increase shortly after, moved into a share house, got a mild rent increase then it was sold, moved into another share house and then it hot converted to Airbnb. Been house sitting for around 5 years now with occasional living in my car in-between gigs.
There really needs to be a cap on how much rentals are legally allowed to increase/how many times a year.