The WA suburbs where rents have climbed the most

West Australian renters are being slugged by hefty increases to their weekly payments as pressure on the housing market grows, with some forking out hundreds more per week over the past seven months alone.

New data from advocacy group Make Renting Fair showed those living in Karratha were paying around $246 weekly more in February than they were in July 2025, bringing the total median rent in the Pilbara town to more than $1400 per week.

Carnarvon and Jurien Bay were not far behind – a growth of $222 and $164 per week, respectively – while in the metropolitan area it was Scarborough and Bicton that recorded the greatest increases in rental costs, at $159 and $140 per week, respectively.

Overall, there were 23 electorates across WA that recorded median rental hikes over $50.

There were, however, 10 electorates where rental prices decreased, including Carine, Broome, Oakford and Serpentine.

But since 2021 the median rent across all electorates has increased by an average of 118 per cent to 2025, or more than doubled in four years.

Shelter WA chief executive Kath Snell said figures were “distressing”.

“Even more distressing is the fact that 10 of the 71 areas we looked at had recorded rental hikes of more than $100 in the past seven months,” she said.

“Salaries certainly have not kept up – how are people meant to afford a home any more? It feels like insanity.”

Snell said it was the regions that were unfairly disadvantaged, with low vacancy rates and a lack of new housing stock contributing to skyrocketing prices.

“There hasn’t been investment in new builds in our state’s north, likely because of how much it would cost, and it means those areas are becoming more and more unaffordable,” she said.

“Teachers, police and shop owners are being priced out.

“FIFO is a key industry in some of these towns but it is not the only one. We need to remember that people are trying to make a life there.”

In Port Hedland, rents have climbed by 511 per cent since 2021.

“I can’t even imagine what that’s like for people living there, to watch their rent climb like that,” Snell said.

Shelter WA will meet with the state government, including Premier Roger Cook, in the coming weeks to advocate for a rent stabilisation mechanism to stop costs from “spiralling further out of control”.

Options to be presented include keeping increases in line with wage increases, or in line with inflation, plus 10 per cent, like the ACT already has in place.

Snell said WA could also follow the lead of Ireland, which introduced flat rates for increases after realising “everywhere was a high-pressure rent zone”.

“People are really struggling because they have no idea how much their rent will increase by, so they can’t even financially plan for it,” she said.

“We are still seeing landlords putting up rents astronomically which causes what we call ‘hidden evictions’ – renters can no longer afford to live there and are forced to leave.

“We are hoping for some really positive conversations with the state government about what rent stabilisation could look like.”

Discussions were held along a similar line in 2019, and Snell said Shelter WA was now “putting it back on the table”.

They will also renew the push to ban no-grounds evictions.

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