However, the annual gauge of rental affordability has found the number of available Northern rental properties has dropped by one-third.

The report found that over one arbitrary selected weekend in March, the total of 1245 available rental properties were unaffordable for low-income earners.

Statewide, the study found there were no affordable options for Youth Allowance recipient or single people on NewStart.

For a single parent, only one per cent of the rentals were affordable but almost all of these were in the North West.

For a person on a minimum wage, only 17 per cent of properties were affordable, and for a couple with a child, just 18 per cent were affordable.

In the North, there was a small increase in the number of available properties, unlike the state’s other regions.

The report found single age-pensioners had a decline in affordable options as did all minimum-wage households.

Couples on a minimum wage with two children were best-placed out of the lot with 37 per cent of advertised options affordable to them.

The North-West continued to be the most affordable of the state’s regions in which to rent, however, the number of available rentals sharply declined over a year by 45 per cent.

The case was similar in the South, where the current housing crisis has hit hardest, where there was a 40-per-cent decline in available rentals.

Anglicare Social Action and Research Centre manager, Meg Webb, said people on income support payments could not get a foothold in the current rental market.

“Many vulnerable households cannot find an affordable rental, so are being forced into overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation,” she said.

“Alternatively, they are spending most of their income on rent, leaving them unable to afford other necessities.”

Ms Webb said the report’s results pointed to a need to increased investment in private affordable housing options and social housing stock and a review of support payments for low-income earners.

She said stamp duty should be abolished and replaced with a broad-based land tax along with changes to the negative gearing system and capital gains discounts.

Ms Webb said the government needed to amend the Tasmanian planning scheme to include targets for affordable properties in all new housing developments.