Australia · data to Aug 2026
How are rents?
Mixed.
Rents are rising 3.6% a year, faster than usual.
For context: 3.6% is around the middle of all 276 figures since 1973.
Rents, year on year
Annual change in rents paid by households
The strip under the chart shows the verdict each period would get by today's rules:Good Mixed Bad
See the latest numbers
| Period | Value | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | 3.6% | Mixed |
| Jul 2026 | 3.6% | Mixed |
| Jun 2026 | 3.6% | Mixed |
| May 2026 | 3.6% | Mixed |
| Apr 2026 | 3.5% | Mixed |
| Mar 2026 | 3.7% | Mixed |
| Feb 2026 | 3.8% | Mixed |
| Jan 2026 | 3.9% | Mixed |
| Dec 2025 | 3.9% | Mixed |
| Nov 2025 | 4.0% | Mixed |
| Oct 2025 | 4.2% | Mixed |
| Sep 2025 | 3.8% | Mixed |
Source: ABS, Consumer Price Index, Australia (rents, annual % change); history.csv for earlier years · Series ABS CPI 3.115522.10.50.M; before Jul 2023, CPI_M 3.115522.10.50.M and quarterly A2331876F · Latest Aug 2026
How we judged this
What we test: The latest figure (rents, year on year). Right now that's 3.6%.
- Good if under 3.0%
- Mixed if from 3.0% to under 5.0%applies now
- Bad if anything the rules above don’t cover
Rules are checked from the top. The first one that fits decides the verdict.
About this data
- Measure
- Rents, year on year
- Latest
- 3.6% (Aug 2026)
- Published
- Monthly, by ABS
- Verdict counts for
- Equal weight with the others in the overall verdict
Rents paid by tenants across the eight capital cities, as measured in the CPI.
Figures before September 2018 are quarterly, not monthly. We calculated them from the ABS's quarterly CPI rents index (Table 18 of the Consumer Price Index release) as the change on the same quarter a year earlier, so they can differ slightly from figures the ABS publishes. September 2018 to mid 2023 comes from the ABS's Monthly CPI Indicator, which has since been replaced. Where the series overlap they agree to within about 0.1 points on average.