Well, it’s official: the area in and around Byron Bay is one of the least-affordable locations in the entire country if you’re a renter.
The 10th annual national rental affordability index was released on November 22, and it lists the 2481 postcode as ‘Extremely Unaffordable’, one of just a handful of locations across Australia to receive this dubious designation.
This postcode, which also covers Ewingsdale, Suffolk Park, Broken Head and Myocum, is part of small group of ‘red zones’ that includes Noosa, Jindabyne, and Perth’s exclusive City Beach postcode.
60 per cent of income in rent
A listing in the ‘Extremely Unaffordable’ category means that the average rental household has to hand over at least 60 per cent of its income to a landlord each week.
This is double the proportion generally associated with housing stress, and is likely to affect the capacity of households to pay for food, utilities, health services and education.
The Shire’s other postcodes were not far behind Byron Bay in the unaffordability stakes, with 2482, 2483 and 2479 all listed as ‘Severely Unaffordable’, meaning that renting households in these areas spent at least 50 per cent of their income on rent.
It is part of a bleak picture for regional NSW which hit record lows for affordability according to the index.
‘The regions used to be seen as an affordable alternative for Sydneysiders to escape to when city rents became unaffordable,’ the CEO of Shelter NSW John Engeler said.
‘But this is not the case, especially for regional residents on local wages. This is not sustainable and will only get worse as these regional populations grow.’
Shelter NSW is calling on the state government to provide more social housing – both public and community housing for low-income people – and to restore the social housing safety net to 5 per cent of all housing stock by 2027, working towards a goal of 10 per cent of all housing by 2040.
‘Renters deserve stable and secure long-term housing,’ Mr Engeler said.
‘While we commend the NSW government for its reform to make renting fairer, we now need it to commit to delivering substantial numbers of genuinely affordable rental housing for low to average income households’.
‘We also need urgent action to wind back the short-term rental market. The stock of private rental properties has been gutted in many regional cities and towns leaving local people with no option but to leave.’
According to the index, the greatest affordability declines in regional NSW have been seen in Tweed Heads, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour, as well as inland areas such as Orange and Dubbo.
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