Rental Affordability Index by National Shelter shows the Canberra low-income households facing the most financial stress

Students, pensioners and single parents are among the hardest hit groups, forced to sacrifice up to 70 per cent of their income to afford rent.

The Rental Affordability Index is released annually by housing advocacy group National Shelter and SGS Economics and Planning, alongside the Brotherhood of Saint Laurence and Beyond Bank Australia.

This year's report rated the ACT as the worst region for rental affordability across eight of the 10 low-income household groups analysed.

Anything above 30 per cent of income spent on rent is considered unaffordable and puts households in a situation of rental stress, SGS Economics and Planning partner and the report's lead author Ellen Witte said.

"For low-income households, whenever they pay more than 30 per cent of their income on rent, they basically do not have sufficient funds for other primary needs such as food, medicine, heating or cooling of the house, transport or education," she said.

"Canberra is the most problematic city of all the cities for low-income households because of the high average income for working people."

A single person on JobSeeker payments is required to sacrifice 117 per cent of their income to rent a home in Canberra, the report found.

A single pensioner in Canberra would need to sacrifice 70 per cent of their income to afford rent, or 53 per cent for a pensioner couple.

Meanwhile, single part-time working parents are required to sacrifice 69 per cent of their income for rent.

Student sharehouses and hospitality workers were also sacrificing 40 and 43 per cent of their income respectively for rental payments.

Ms Witte said unaffordable rental properties forced people to live further away from workplaces, transport and services.

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"So if they are now being pushed out even further they will have to travel further, which increases those costs," she said.

"It's really putting people in between a rock and a hard place."

National Shelter CEO Emma Greenhalgh said the report revealed the need for intervention for low-income renters.

"We need rental reform that includes limiting rent increases and adjustments to income support including Commonwealth Rent Assistance," she said.

"We also need greater investment in social and affordable housing to reverse a decade-long decline."

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