LOGAN City suburbs have been listed among the most affordable places to rent in greater Brisbane.
The 2015 Rental Affordability Index released Tuesday showed tenants in Woodridge and Kingston spent on average 19 per cent of their income on rent.
LJ Hooker Logan City senior property manager Naomi Browning said while she agreed parts of Logan were among the most affordable, many renters still struggled to afford the places on offer.
“Often we have to say ‘I’m sorry mate but we can’t put you into a property because you can’t afford it’,” she said.
“We have to say to them ‘We have a duty of care not just to the owner to make sure you pay your rent but we have a duty of care to you to make sure we don’t put you into something you can’t afford’.
“The rent should not exceed one third of the total combined income coming in to the household, so the average three bedroom home in this area rents for $300 a week and that means there’s got to be a minimum of $900 coming in a week, and on their own people find that hard.
“People really do struggle to afford even though these are considered among the most affordable locations.”
In contrast to the findings about Woodridge and Kingston, the index reported low income families on $500 a week in Queensland spent 54 per cent of their income on rent.”
Adrian Pisarski from National Shelter said low and middle income households were suffering.
“Low income households are being hammered beyond belief (and) moderate income working households are very hard up and have little disposable income,” he said.
“Many middle income households are finding it hard to make ends meet and these households then ultimately don’t have disposable income to spend on key life items like health, transport, education and food.”
Mr Pisarski called on the federal government to create a national strategy focused on tax reform, investment, planning, states and local government and the community sector and reform the National Affordable Housing Agreement.
The National Shelter, Community Sector Banking and SGS Economics & Planning jointly released the index.
To view the index visit www.sgsep.com.au/assets/RAI-Release-Report-Final-231115.pdf
