A yearly salary of $130,000 is still not enough to safeguard against rising rents in Western Australia, new research reveals.

The state’s north has emerged as the nation’s most expensive region to rent in, according to the latest Priced Out report from affordable housing coalition Everybody’s Home.

The report, released on Monday, shines a light on the sharp rise in rental prices in recent years, and measures how much of a person’s weekly income is spent on rent, based on median weekly prices.

It set out that no more than 30 per cent of a household budget should be allocated to rents to avoid financial stress.

Perth renters on low incomes would spend as much as 97 per cent of their weekly wage on the median asking rent for a unit (in the case of someone earning $40,000 a year).

Even someone earning $130,000 a year and living in Perth would spend 36 per cent of their income on housing, “demonstrating that Perth remains unaffordable even for many higher-income households”.

In the Pilbara and Kimberley – jointly referred to as “northern WA” – median rents exceed the disposable income of people earning $40,000-$50,000 a year, and is 99 per cent of the income of someone earning $60,000 a year.

“While Perth remains one of the country’s least affordable capital cities, some regional markets are even more expensive relative to local incomes,” the report states.

In Busselton, Sharon, who asked her last name not be used, knows all too well the pressures of rising rents.

At 55 years old, she would prefer to live alone. But, with her rent at $700 a week, and her Centrelink medical support income only providing about $515 a week, she is forced to sublet her home, which brings its own challenges.

“It’s only affordable for me because I’m sharing with two other people,” Sharon said.

“I desperately would love to live in my own place where I look after me, and I look after my dog.

“Some [housemates] just don’t get it, and then when they no longer want to live here, they just pack up and leave.

“I’m left with the rent to pay on the room if nobody else is in there immediately.

“And then I’m left with welcoming new strangers into my life and into my home.”

Even with housemates, Sharon is still paying about $240 on rent. She gets by with the help of SecondBite, operated through the St Mary’s Church Family Centre, and leftover stock from a local baker, which she also gives to the Salvation Army.

“If I didn’t have those two free food outlets, I would struggle, I would seriously struggle,” she said.

Everybody’s Home spokesperson Maiy Azize said regional Australia was no longer a rental refuge and, in some areas, rents were now pricier than in the capital cities.

“Workers are losing weeks worth of their time and pay cheques to fund rent rises,” she said.

“National rents are almost $50 extra a week compared to 18 months ago.

“For someone earning $40,000, this rent increase would chew up nearly four and a half weeks worth of their working year.

“For most workers, that’s more time than they get off all year.”

Azize laid the blame at the feet of “decades of governments” walking away from public and community housing.

“These are the homes that don’t price out renters, and they’re the homes that private developers won’t build,” she said.

“The federal government needs to build public and community homes at scale. Australia needs nearly one million of these homes within the next 15 years.

“The federal government has shown that it can take action to help people buy their first home, now it must help everyone afford to rent one.”

Sharon, however, believed councils had a lot to answer for – especially in Busselton, a popular tourist town that is awash with short-term holiday accommodation like Airbnb.

There are eight Airbnb properties on her block alone, and about 20 in the broader area within 200 metres of her house.

She understands the appeal of the market, and even worked in the short-term accommodation sector when she was in Port Douglas, in Queensland, before moving back to the seaside town she grew up in.

“Airbnb’s have created the housing crisis that we are facing now in 2026,” she said.

“Immigration hasn’t changed, and the places that those people get placed in hasn’t changed.

“Since people recovered from COVID and people started travelling again, I believe that’s when the Airbnb’s just went out of control.”

The City of Busselton has recently moved to tamp down the short-term accommodation market, banning unhosted holiday homes in some areas of the South West town.

The town, on the coast of Geographe Bay in WA’s South West, had seen a strong population increase over the past two decades, even at one point being the fastest-growing local government area in the state.

According to the Priced Out report, a renter on $40,000 a year in the South West would spend about 76 per cent of their income on rent, with the “affordability” benchmark of 30 per cent of weekly earnings only being met by those on incomes of $120,000 and above.

“The Wheatbelt, Mid and South West are more affordable than Perth, although households on low and middle incomes continue to experience rental stress,” the report notes.