Illawarra suburbs Warilla and Port Kembla facing severe rental pain: Suburbtrends report

Renters in Warilla can expect to be paying a whopping 43 per cent of their income on their rent, bringing it in at number 11 in NSW for "rental pain", according to a new report from property data company Suburbtrends.

Meanwhile, in the Port Kembla and Warrawong areas rents have been hiked by 10 per cent in the past year according to the report. That puts the average renter in a position where they have to spend 41 per cent of their income on rent.

"Rental pain" is something that former Warilla resident retiree Kris Minter is well and truly familiar with.

"I've worked since I was 13, paid tax all my life, I can't get into public housing, and I can't get into any decent rentals," she said.

"It's hard... And it puts a lot of mental stress on you. It's not sustainable for people to go through rent increases year after year."

Suburbtrends Rental Pain Index, investigating the state of rental affordability across Australia compiles data on rental increases, affordability, and vacancy rates.

Other areas that have suffered big increases include the Helensburgh area which has seen rent hikes of 15 per cent - however that equates to 28 per cent of household income.

Meanwhile, Warilla also finished at No.24 on the national list, with an average 12-month rental increase of five per cent at the end of August, compared to the same time last year.

Up until about 18 months ago, Ms Minter was renting in Kiama, in the same older property she had been living in for 15 years.

She was paying $325 a week rent for a unit, but after her landlord sought to raise the rent by $100 a week, she needed to look elsewhere as she couldn't afford the extra cost. After inspecting more than 50 units, Ms Minter secured a rental in Warilla, a duplex-style home located on a main road with plenty of traffic.

"You'd pull up at a unit, and the street would be full with 60, 70 people going through a unit," she said.

"There was a lot of pressure."

Ms Minter ended up paying $430 a week in Warilla - but at least in her new location she didn't spend as much on petrol, and was closer to family, shops and other amenities.

Living by herself, her 12-month lease came up earlier this year, and having experienced issues with mould and flooding, she baulked at a planned $60 a week rent increase.

"I just had to start looking again," she said. "It wasn't worth the $430 I was paying, and they wanted more.

"I started looking again around here (in Warilla and nearby areas), and I was stunned. One-bedroom bedsits that you wouldn't let your dog live in them, they were disgusting.

"Some of the properties, they'd be tiny, and they'd be asking $480 to $500 a week. And the queues to look at them were ridiculous.

"If you're paying that much, that's $1000 out of your income... All up I get about $1196 a fortnight.

"You're left with about $200 a fortnight to eat, for your phone, electricity."

Ms Minter is currently caretaking a property for a family friend elsewhere in the Illawarra.

"I'm very lucky that this fell into my lap," she said. "It came at a perfect time.

"I'm hearing about other people saying they have to move back in with mum, or they're moving in and they're living in the garage, or they're doubling up with friends."

Kent Lardner from Suburbtrends said the Illawarra's rental market had experienced considerable changes in recent times.

"We saw the influx of people from the cities into areas like the Illawarra," he said.

"This pushed rents up and pushed these cities into these lists for all the wrong reasons.

"The trend that's happening now is that a lot of the cities are really feeling most of the pain, but there's been no reprieve for the Illawarra. There's been no let-up.

"I look at the Port Kembla-Warrawong area, there's a ten per cent increase in rents... And anything above five per cent is huge.

"And 41 per cent of the average household income is being allocated to rent means there's nothing left over if something goes wrong."

He said the Illawarra's "extraordinarily low" vacancy rates of below 1.5 per cent was also a major factor.

"That keeps the pressure on in terms of rental increases," he said.

He said the Port Kembla/Warrawong area and the southern end of Wollongong had been a particularly attractive location for investors.

"If investors come in and push up supply (of rentals), in some ways that's great. But what can also happen is, if investors come in at the same time as local buyers are competing, sometimes that can nudge up prices.

"And when prices go up, people have an expectation to get a return on investment... They may be expecting a four per cent return, so suddenly by virtue of paying more for a property, you've got to ask for a really high rent."

Claire Brown, team leader for the Tenants Advice and Advocacy Program at Illawarra Legal Centre said ongoing rate rises were proving problematic for many.

"I'm seeing people who are saying they can't figure out what to do," she said.

"The one that really breaks my heart the most is when I talk to people who are on the age pension, and our system is designed so that people who are on the age pension own their own home.

"I was talking to someone two days ago, who has been told he only has four or five months to live, and the rent increase that he's got is such that it's going to take his entire pension to pay that rent increase.

"What do people do now? They can't move, and they can't afford the rent increase. It's a really difficult situation.

"I think for people who aren't working, or are working but are on lower incomes, if they're not in social or government housing, or they don't own their own home, then they're in massive trouble in this rental climate in the Illawarra and South Coast.

"There aren't really any places that are left that are particularly affordable any more."

Petreace Bush, director at Illawarra Estate Agents said there was rental stock available in the region, but the current price-point for many of them was barrier for a lot of renters.