The national median weekly rent value hit a record high in June and is $48 a week higher than at the same time a year ago.

The national rent is now $634 per week according to figures from CoreLogic. It says rental affordability continues to deteriorate in Australia, and has identified a trend of renters starting to favour larger dwellings.

Head of Research Eliza Owen says the data indicates that more renters are moving into larger properties together to try and reduce their overall costs. For houses, rents increased 8.4% nationally in the year to June, and this ranged from a 7.6% increase in houses with up to two bedrooms to 8.7% in larger houses with five bedrooms or more.

At the same time, the pace of rent growth for one-bedroom or studio apartments has slowed from 16.8% in the year to April 2023 to 7.1% in the past 12 months. “Larger rental properties are showing more resilient rent growth, despite being more expensive,” Owen says. “The average rent for a bedroom (i.e. total rent divided by number of bedrooms) is lower the higher the bedrooms are.”