Cheapest Capital City Suburbs To Rent Today
Australia is in the midst of a rental crisis, with weekly rents rising 30% over 38 consecutive months
Australia is in the midst of a rental crisis, with weekly rents rising 30% over 38 consecutive months
It costs a median $616 per week to rent a property across Australia’s combined capital cities, with rents rising 10% over the past 12 months alone, according to new CoreLogic data. The cost is lower across the combined regions a median of $507 per week, up 4.1% over the past year.
Rents across Australia have risen by 30% over 38 consecutive months, adding $137 per week to the median cost of renting. The number of properties being advertised for rent fell to its lowest level in more than 10 years during the September quarter. A rental vacancy rate of 3% is considered a balanced market but rates are now at record lows of 1% in the capitals and 1.2% in the regions.
CoreLogic Economist Kaytlin Ezzy said record high net overseas migration and an estimated shortfall of 47,500 rental homes were pushing rental values higher. However, she noted that the pace of rental growth is starting to slow, with national rents rising 1.6% in the September quarter compared to 2.2% in the June quarter, as renters hit an affordability ceiling.
Ms Ezzy said more renters were banding together to form larger households to share the burdensome cost – a trend that is creating stronger demand for rental houses, in particular. “There is already some evidence that a structural change in household formation, coupled with worsening affordability in the unit sector, has shifted some rental demand back in favour of the low-density sector,” Ms Ezzy said. “National house rents are now rising faster than unit rents … reversing the trend seen through much of 2022 and the first half of 2023.”
CoreLogic has published a report revealing the cheapest suburbs to rent in within a 20km radius of capital city CBDs. The list below shows the current median weekly rent in each suburb.
Auburn $648 pw
South Granville $657 pw
Granville $673 pw
Regents Park $675 pw
Sefton $676 pw
Berala $486 pw
Wiley Park $491 pw
Punchbowl $498 pw
Lakemba $501 pw
Regents Park $509 pw
Albanvale $441 pw
Laverton $441 pw
Broadmeadows $441 pw
Kings Park $442 pw
Ardeer $443 pw
Albion $366 pw
St Albans $398 pw
Deer Park $406 pw
Kingsville $411 pw
Thomastown $420 pw
Woodridge $501 pw
Inala $503 pw
Ellen Grove $523 pw
Darra $526 pw
Rocklea $544 pw
Woodridge $352 pw
Rochedale South $436 pw
Strathpine $446 pw
Brendale $459 pw
Alexandra Hills $468 pw
Salisbury $473 pw
Braham Lodge $475 pw
Salisbury Downs $478 pw
Paralowie $498 pw
Taperoo $502 pw
Salisbury East $361 pw
Salisbury $378 pw
Kilburn $397 pw
Klemzig $402 pw
St Marys $403 pw
Girrawheen $491 pw
Gosnells $501 pw
Midland $503 pw
Middle Swan $518 pw
Koondoola $519 pw
Midland $433 pw
Gosnells $441 pw
Noranda $445 pw
Hamilton Hill $457 pw
Coolbellup $462 pw
Bridgewater $485 pw
Midway Point $501 pw
Chigwell $501 pw
Claremont $509 pw
Berridale $516 pw
Claremont $411 pw
West Moonah $422 pw
Glenorchy $431 pw
Lindisfarne $456 pw
New Town $463 pw
Higgins $597 pw
Scullin $598 pw
Page $599 pw
Charnwood $599 pw
Holt $599 pw
Lyons $468 pw
Chifley $494 pw
Hawker $501 pw
Mawson $528 pw
Gungahlin $529 pw
Moulden $539 pw
Gray $549 pw
Driver $564 pw
Woodroffe $587 pw
Bakewell $591 pw
Bakewell $457 pw
Leanyer $468 pw
Coconut Grove $475 pw
Millner $478 pw
Rapid Creek $494 pw
For Central Element, the start of work at Pearl represents another step in the company’s growing eastern suburbs pipeline.
All three vehicles will form part of a broader charitable initiative benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the American Red Cross and Starlight Children’s Foundation
Jack Freeman believes the most compelling interiors are not decorated, but collected. The FREEMAN & CO founder creates layered, personal spaces shaped by art, travel and craftsmanship.
For Jack Freeman, a compelling interior should not look as though it was completed in a single shopping trip.
The founder and designer behind FREEMAN & CO prefers rooms that develop through art, travel, commissioned furniture and objects collected over time. It is an approach that treats the home less as a decorative project and more as an evolving portrait of its owner.
“I am a true believer in collecting versus decorating,” Freeman says.
That distinction underpins the international practice he has built across private residences, hotels, property developments, yachts and private aviation. Its projects stretch from Point Piper, Vaucluse, Circular Quay and Toorak to Mayfair, Bel Air and the Caribbean.
Although the locations and architecture vary considerably, the work is connected by a restrained design language. Natural stone, warm timbers and sculptural furniture establish the foundation, while art, bespoke lighting and individual objects give each interior its identity.
The objective is not to overwhelm a room with obvious symbols of expense. It is to create an environment that feels calm, layered and particular to the people living within it.
“The greatest luxury isn’t about excess,” Freeman says. “It’s about creating an oasis where you come home and feel immediately grounded — effortlessly chic and deeply personal.”
Collecting instead of decorating
Decorating can imply the completion of a room: selecting the required furniture, filling the available walls and producing a coherent finished image.
Collecting is less conclusive.
A collected interior has room to change as its owners travel, discover artists, inherit pieces or reassess how they use their home. Its character comes from the relationship between objects rather than adherence to a single brand or season.
That does not mean placing unrelated pieces together without discipline. The designer must understand scale, proportion, material and provenance well enough to create a dialogue between them.
A contemporary artwork might sit beside a historic piece of furniture. A precisely detailed new interior may be interrupted by an irregular object made by hand. Smooth stone can be balanced by timber, textiles or a patinated metal surface that becomes richer with age.
The tension between those elements is part of the appeal.
For Freeman, art is not an accessory to be added once the furniture plan is complete. It forms part of the architecture and atmosphere of the room from the beginning.
Lighting is considered in the same way. Beyond its practical purpose, a bespoke fitting can operate as a suspended sculpture, changing both the room’s composition and the way its materials are experienced after dark.

A design perspective shaped by travel
International travel plays a significant role in Freeman’s creative process.
Design fairs such as PAD Paris and Salone del Mobile in Milan provide opportunities to encounter emerging designers, established galleries, new materials and collectible furniture away from the filter of social media.
More spontaneous discoveries can prove equally important.
“Sometimes it’s the simple things,” Freeman says. “That piece found on a shopping trip with a client in Paris, stumbling across an artisan’s workshop, or a special memory that forms the narrative of the story.”
Objects selected during travel bring more than visual interest into a home. They carry an association with a place, maker or experience, giving the client a connection that cannot be reproduced by ordering an entire interior from a catalogue.
Freeman’s influences are international, but his projects are not conceived as replicas of Parisian, Milanese or Californian style. Each commission responds to its architecture, setting, natural light and the daily lives of its occupants.
A waterfront Sydney residence demands a different treatment from a Mayfair townhouse. A Caribbean estate shaped by brutalist architecture and reflecting pools calls for another response again.
The designer’s role is to absorb those references without allowing them to overwhelm the individual qualities of the property.
Designing the complete experience
FREEMAN & CO extends beyond conventional interior decoration.
The practice’s stated services include interior design and architecture, project management, property acquisition, development advice, concept design, documentation, furniture and lighting design, procurement and art curation.
That breadth allows the team to become involved before a room’s dimensions and finishes are fixed.
Early participation can be important at the top end of the residential market, where architecture, landscape, interiors, technology and art must operate as one environment. Decisions about ceiling heights, wall dimensions, sightlines and lighting can directly affect where art is installed or how custom furniture is proportioned.
The practice can then carry those decisions through to procurement and final installation, maintaining the design narrative as a project moves between architects, builders, specialist craftspeople, dealers and suppliers.
Its residential portfolio includes a South Coast retreat conceived as an escape from urban life, a Caribbean estate with reflecting pools, an East Coast-inspired Palm Beach residence and a Mayfair townhouse organised around an expressive drawing room.
The studio also says it has worked on highly tailored Sydney residences with values exceeding $100 million, although the private nature of such commissions means individual addresses and clients are not always disclosed.

A home that can keep changing
The risk in creating a perfectly resolved interior is that it can become too static — a composition that looks exceptional in photographs but leaves little room for life.
Freeman sees the home as something that should evolve with its owners.
“I love the evolution of design,” he says. “We are talking about people’s lives, and as they evolve, so too should their private sanctuaries.”
That evolution might involve adding art, reupholstering a significant piece, adapting rooms as a family changes or making space for objects gathered through future travels.
The original design needs to be strong enough to accommodate those layers.
This may be the clearest expression of Freeman’s approach to luxury. It is not simply access to rare stone, collectible furniture or commissioned craftsmanship. It is the creation of a personal environment whose meaning deepens rather than diminishes with time.
Fact box
From farm-to-table Thai to fairy-lit mango trees and Coral Sea vistas, Port Douglas has award-winning dining and plenty of tropical charm on the side.
A haven for hedge-fund titans and Hollywood grandees, Greenwich is one of the world’s most expensive residential enclaves, where eye-watering prices meet unapologetic grandeur.