Rents on new leases rose 5.7% over the year to the June quarter 2026 across the five states whose bond data APN holds, to $695.83 a week on the combined measure. The rise was fastest in Tasmania, 11.6%, and Western Australia, 7.3%; New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia each rose between 5.7% and 5.9%. The combined measure has risen in every quarter since September 2023, by 18.8% in all. Rental Market Analysis (21190), which reads it against its own short history, stands at +1.4958σ.
The measure covers new leases in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania; Victoria, the ACT and the Northern Territory are not included.
What the measure is
When a tenant signs a new lease, the bond is lodged with the state’s bond authority, and the lodgement records the weekly rent. From those records APN takes the median new-lease rent in each council area and averages them, weighting each area by the number of bonds lodged. The result covers new leases only: tenants who stay put, and their rents, are not in it. It is built for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, which together lodged 162,209 new bonds in the June quarter 2026. Victoria publishes quarterly median rents by council area, but its latest release covers the September quarter 2025, so it is not included; nor are the ACT and the Northern Territory.
The June quarter, state by state
| State | June quarter 2025 | June quarter 2026 | Change | New bonds, June quarter 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tasmania | $477.34 | $532.94 | 11.6% | 3,817 |
| Western Australia | $666.01 | $714.94 | 7.3% | 18,365 |
| South Australia | $534.02 | $565.48 | 5.9% | 13,930 |
| Queensland | $619.30 | $655.08 | 5.8% | 53,631 |
| New South Wales | $714.00 | $754.79 | 5.7% | 72,466 |
| Five states | $658.00 | $695.83 | 5.7% | 162,209 |
Average of council-area median weekly rents on newly lodged bonds, weighted by the number of bonds. APN calculation based on bond lodgement data from NSW Fair Trading, the Residential Tenancies Authority (Queensland), Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), Consumer Protection (Western Australia) and Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (Tasmania).
Growth in new-lease rents over the year to the June quarter 2026
Change on the June quarter 2025. Average of council-area median weekly rents on newly lodged bonds, weighted by the number of bonds. APN calculation based on bond lodgement data from the five state bond authorities.
Tasmania’s rise of 11.6% was its fastest over a year in the period shown, and more than double its rate a year earlier. Western Australia’s 7.3% took its measure to $714.94, closer to New South Wales’s $754.79 than at any point since September 2023, when the series begins. New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia rose at almost the same pace, 5.7%, 5.8% and 5.9%.
Since September 2023
Five-state new-lease rent measure, September quarter 2023 to June quarter 2026
Average of council-area median weekly rents on newly lodged bonds, weighted by the number of bonds. New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. APN calculation based on bond lodgement data from the five state bond authorities.
New-lease rent measure by state, September quarter 2023 to June quarter 2026
Average of council-area median weekly rents on newly lodged bonds, weighted by the number of bonds. APN calculation based on bond lodgement data from the five state bond authorities.
The combined measure rose from $585.61 in the September quarter 2023 to $695.83, higher in each quarter than the one before. State measures move more unevenly from quarter to quarter, so the comparison that matters is with the same quarter a year earlier.
New leases signed
The number of new bonds was 162,209 in the June quarter 2026, 1.0% fewer than a year earlier. In each year shown, the June and December quarters had fewer new bonds than the March and September quarters. How rents moved around recent tenancy law changes in four of these states is set out in Rents Where the Rules Changed: Bond Data Around Four Tenancy Reforms, and Queensland’s longer history in The Two Queenslands.
The reading
Rental Market Analysis (21190) standardises the combined measure against its own history since September 2023: at $695.83, it sits 1.4958 standard deviations above the average of $644.61 for that period. Because the history is only 12 quarters long, the position of 93.3 is an indicative position, derived from the standard score; the empirical ranking begins at 20 quarters (currently 12). A rising series with a short baseline will read high while rents keep rising, so the reading says more about direction than about how unusual current rents are.
What this does not show
The measure covers new leases, so it moves ahead of the rents most tenants pay. It is an average of council-area medians, not a median of all new leases, and it depends on where new leases are signed in each quarter. It excludes Victoria, the ACT and the Northern Territory, so it is not a national figure in the full sense. It is not adjusted for the size or quality of the dwellings let.
- Consumer and Business Services (South Australia) Private rent report [https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/private-rent-report], accessed 30 September 2026.
- Consumer Protection (Western Australia) Rental bonds data, 2023 to current [https://housing-data-exchange.ahdap.org/dataset/west-australia-rental-bonds-data-2023-current], accessed 30 September 2026.
- Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (Tasmania) Rental bond statistics [https://www.cbos.tas.gov.au/topics/housing/renting/bonds/rental-bond-statistics], accessed 30 September 2026.
- NSW Fair Trading Rental bond data: lodgements [https://www.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-construction/rental-forms-surveys-and-data/rental-bond-data], accessed 30 September 2026.
- Residential Tenancies Authority (Queensland) Median rents quarterly data [https://www.rta.qld.gov.au/forms-resources/rta-quarterly-data/median-rents-quarterly-data], accessed 30 September 2026.
Figures are calculated by APN from the state bond data named above and are not attributable to any publisher.
Findings are presented on the basis of data and evidence alone.
