New data from Finder, as reported by The Courier Mail, has found renters are faring worse financially than homeowners, with 47% of tenants saying they struggled to pay their rent in June, well above the 38% of homeowners who reported difficulty meeting their mortgage repayments in the same month.
The figures, drawn from Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker, point to a rental market where cost pressures are increasingly being passed down from landlords facing their own rate rises.
Finder money expert Richard Whitten said the trend reflects landlords shifting the burden of higher borrowing costs onto tenants.
"Landlords facing higher mortgage repayments are increasingly passing those costs onto tenants through rent increases," Whitten said, adding that "many renters are already stretched thin and worry another hike could seriously impact their ability to cover everyday expenses."
That dynamic is already visible in the data: Sydney house rents hit a record $850 a week last quarter, up 6.3%, after three RBA hikes added to landlord costs. Five capitals recorded vacancy rates below 1%, leaving tenants little room to negotiate.
Against that backdrop, sentiment data shows nearly two in three renters fear further rate rises will push their rents higher still.
For 31% of renters, that fear has already materialised, with rent rising in the past six months and expectations of another increase to come; a separate 31% believe a hike is on its way before year's end, while a further 9% saw rent rise but aren't worried about a repeat. Only 29% said they had no concerns at all about rate movements affecting what they pay.
Whitten pointed to Australia's tight rental market as the reason tenants have so little room to move.
"Too many are living in fear of the next email or phone call from their landlord, because another increase could blow a hole in an already stretched budget," he said.
The survey drew on responses from 311 renters surveyed in April 2026, part of Finder's broader Consumer Sentiment Tracker of more than 90,000 Australians running since May 2019.
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