WACOSS Cost of Living Report

The Western Australian Council of Social Service (WACOSS) has produced its Cost of Living report annually since 2007.

Key Findings

Substantial growth in expenditure, particularly for rental and transport costs, has significantly increased financial pressure on the model households. Living costs have increased in every category, while the cessation of the Coronavirus Supplement and Economic Support Payments has resulted in the income of the model households seeing little growth or declining. The gap between income and expenditure has narrowed for each of the model households.

Housing

Housing remains the single largest cost for households in Western Australia. Housing costs have a disproportionate impact on those living on the lowest incomes.

With median rents in Perth on the increase since 2018 and drastically rising since 2020, the pressure rental costs place on households has never been more apparent. As of June 2022, median house rents in Perth had increased over the past 12 months by 10 per cent and by 33.8 per cent since June 2020. Median unit rents increased by 7.5 per cent since 2021 and by 28.4 per cent since 2020.

The very low level of accessible properties available to rent for households receiving government payments and for single minimum wage earners, including single parents, strongly indicates the likelihood that many of those households will be living in housing stress or making do with housing that is not appropriate for their circumstances.

Report

Read the WACOSS Cost of Living report here.