Mandurah residents among those with most housing stress in Perth

The inner city of Perth, which has about 15,000 residents, is experiencing the second highest rate of housing stress of all Perth municipalities, according to a new report by lobbying group Australians for Affordable Housing. 

AAH defines housing stress as being the lowest 40% of equivalised household incomes who spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs. 

Nearly one in five (17%) inner-city Perth residents fall into this category (as well as an equal proportion in Mosman Park, Mandurah and Victoria Park) in a list headed by Kwinana, a suburb about 30 kilometres south of the CBD. 

These five suburbs make up the top five housing stressed council areas, according to AAH. 

 “The high cost of housing in Perth is not new, but these figures show where the pain is being felt,” says AAH campaign manager Sarah Toohey. 

“Households in Kwinana are suffering the most, with 20% experiencing housing stress, while Mandura has the highest proportion of people in the rental market in housing stress (42%)”. 

“Areas such as Kwinana, Armadale, Mandurah and Wanneroo all have rates of rental stress over 36%, as well as high rates of mortgage stress with over 17% of home buyers in those areas under financial pressure.” 

“Housing is the single biggest cost-of-living issue in Australia. When low-income households spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs they are officially in housing stress. This means they have very little left over to cover other costs like food, transport, bills or money for emergencies.” 

“The WA government has produced an excellent housing strategy for the state. Now we need the state and federal governments to work together to fund that strategy and deliver the housing system that WA needs.” 

The lobby group is urging Perth residents in housing stress to join the campaign to convince governments to work together to address the housing crisis. 

“We need collective action at all levels of government to ensure that we fix our broken housing system, and take the pressure off families struggling with high housing costs and lack of affordable options,” Toohey says. 

Outside of the most stressed suburbs, the most recent REIA/Deposit Power Housing Affordability Report found that Western Australia recorded the largest improvement in housing affordability across the country, with the proportion of family income required to meet home loan repayments decreasing 2.3% to 23.9%. 

Western Australia is the third most affordable state or territory in which to buy a home. Over the year, housing affordability improved by 4.1%. 

The median family income increased 6% and the average monthly loan repayments decreased 3.2% during the September 2011 quarter, contributing to the improvement in housing affordability.

Rental affordability improved over the September quarter, with the proportion of income required to meet median rents decreasing 0.7% to 19.3%. Over the year, rental affordability improved by 1.8 percentage points.

 Picture by Michael Coghlan