In almost one in seven Aussie suburbs is it cheaper to have a mortgage on a house than it is to rent. The difference between paying a bank loan and paying a landlord are blown out in some parts of the country, in favour of homeowners, due to a shortage of properties for lease, which has jacked up asking rents.

Perth’s city unit market has the largest gap – there, it costs $584 less a month to be a mortgage holder than it does to rent. Perth’s CBD offers unit mortgages that are $146 per week cheaper than renting.

New REIWA president Joe White says stamp duty is stopping people from downsizing, implicating the housing market, while inflation was hurting the industry.

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“Our rental prices are rising marginally every month, about 20 per cent in two years… that’s a lot of money for families on limited means to find, given wages growth hasn’t kept up with inflation,” he told Simon Beaumont on Mornings.