Australian Rents Increase $30 Weekly in Q1 2026 Amid Record-Low Vacancy Rates

Au on Tuesday showed. Figures from Domain indicated the rental market is tighter than ever, adding $25 a week to the typical advertised rent price. Median rents reached $680 a week for houses and $675 for units in those cities.

Price growth had slowed in 2025 but picked up in most cities this year, Domain reported. 7%. 2%.

6% in December. Dr. Nicola Powell, Domain’s chief residential economist, stated that vacancy rates are lower than ever and supply remains incredibly tight, but rent growth is no longer accelerating everywhere.

Powell added that this indicates households simply cannot stretch any further. The Guardian reported these rental market figures amid ongoing pressures on housing affordability. With so few properties available, rents would grow even faster if renters could afford more, but current conditions show limits to that capacity.

In a separate development, sweeping changes to Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are expected to save the federal budget $35 billion over four years, Health Minister Mark Butler confirmed. Butler announced the major overhaul on Monday to contain the scheme’s rising costs, including adjustments to eligibility rules projected to remove at least 160,000 participants by 2030.

Under the reforms, the NDIS budget will drop to about $55 billion at the end of the decade, compared with projections exceeding $70 billion.

30 program Monday night, Butler said the changes would save the federal budget about $35 billion over four years. He noted that this figure accounts for a recent $13 billion blowout in the scheme’s projected costs over the period, resulting in a net saving closer to $22 billion. Butler described the measure as a significant figure but one that is necessary to get this thing back on track.

He emphasized that the goal is to secure the scheme’s future in the long term. The minister added that the disability ministers are talking with participants every single day and with providers, and all of them are saying they want a better quality of service.

After his announcement to the National Press Club, Butler met with state and territory disability ministers on Tuesday, marking the first time his counterparts had been briefed on the shakeup.

The ministers sought further detail, including the modeling that underpinned the changes. Butler said they were up for the challenge and want this sort of free-for-all market that’s grown up over the last 10 years or so cleaned up, along with fraud addressed and more integrity in the system.

The Guardian reported that there is a lot of enthusiasm for the job of getting this thing back on track, based on Butler's comments.

The overhaul aims to address cost pressures that have built over the past decade.