Rental affordability in Australian capital cities is going from bad to worse.

PropTrack’s latest Market Insight Report shows surging rents over the past year have seen the number of affordable rental homes “vanishing” across the country.

At the start of the pandemic, 43.2 per cent of Australia’s rental properties cost less than $400 a week.

That figure has plummeted to just 10.4 per cent, which is also a third lower than this time last year.

It is significantly worse after removing regional centres, with just 5.9 per cent of city property rentals costing less than $400 a week.

“Crisis conditions have really gripped rental markets right around the country,” PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said.

At the start of the pandemic, 20 per cent of house rentals in Sydney cost less than $400 a week – that figure is now 2 per cent.

In Melbourne, 4 per cent of house rentals now costs less than $400.

Melbourne also saw the largest annual decline in the share of houses listed for less than $400 a week.

ACT had the smallest share of both houses and apartment properties listed to rent under $400 at 2.1 per cent.

“Rental listings costing less than $400 a week have plummeted pretty much in every market and across both houses and units,” Ms Creagh said.

“We’ve seen strong demand to rent [and] limited supply of available rentals, and that’s put downwards pressure on rental vacancies, which has in turn placed upwards pressure on rental prices, with significant rental price increases seen right around the country.”