Rental Burden Index (RBI) — methodology

What this metric measures

Rents relative to wages: the ABS CPI rents index divided by the ABS Wage Price Index, rebased to 100 at their first common quarter. A rising ratio means rents are outpacing wages — worsening rental affordability.

Why it matters: Rental affordability directly affects younger Australians and those who cannot access home ownership. A rising burden indicates worsening rental conditions.

Source & provenance

Publisher

ABS

Update frequency

quarterly

Licence

CC BY 4.0

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How the score is computed

The score is a 0–100 normalisation of the latest observation, compared to a baseline window. The traffic-light rating (RAG) reflects both the absolute level and the recent trend.

Direction

Lower is better

Trend window

60 months

Baseline

Last 10 years

{
  "red_min_pct_of_baseline": 110,
  "amber_max_pct_of_baseline": 110,
  "green_max_pct_of_baseline": 95
}