Albion is Melbourne’s fourth-most affordable suburb for renters, a national report on rental affordability has found.
The latest report reveals a decline in rental affordability across Melbourne, but the city’s most affordable suburbs include Albion, Melton and Melton South where average rents consume about 17 per cent of renters’ incomes.
The Rental Affordability Index – developed by National Shelter, Community Sector Banking and SGS Economics and Planning – compares household rents against householders’ incomes.
Housing ‘stress’ is defined by costs that exceed 30 per cent of a household’s income.
The average Melbourne household pays about 24 per cent of income on rent, the report found.
“Greater Melbourne has consistently been the most affordable capital city over the last three years,” it states.
“A growing number of households … are being left with very little disposable income after paying for rent,” he said.
“[This risks] their ability to pay for other necessities such as food, water, healthcare, transport and education.”
A Jesuit Social Services report, Dropping off the Edge, revealed in June that Albion was among the state’s most disadvantaged suburbs.
Albion rated in the state’s top 20 for unemployment and in the top 10 for long-term unemployment.
