In the regional city of Townsville, a two-bedroom unit in the CBD might set renters back as much as $570 per week.
It puts the north Queensland capital well in front of its glamorous competition.
In Melbourne's inner-city suburbs a two-bedroom dwelling averages $410 per week, according to data from the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.
According to Queensland's Residential Tenancies Authority, median rents in Townsville have jumped more than 30 per cent in the past three years.
The price of a two-bedroom unit was just $265 a week in the December quarter of 2018. Last December it jumped to $350 a week.
Townsville real estate agent Santo Spanella said he had seen prices increase steeply in the region.
And he said there were just too many people looking and too few properties to go around.
"We're seeing 10 to 15 applications per property," Mr Spanella said.
Location, location, location
Mr Spanella said location was a big factor in rental prices.
While interstate migration sparked by COVID-19 had driven prices up Queensland, it has lowered them in Melbourne.
"Generally, places that are closer to the beach or that are ideally located might fetch a bit more money."
Competition was ripe for families with school-aged children.
"Families want to be in certain catchments so they can put their kids through different schools that might suit their kids better," he said.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland zone chair Ben Kingsberry said after a fairly subdued decade, Townsville's real estate market was bouncing back.
A jump in interstate buyers and first-time buyers snapping up properties were driving the market's prices.
While one-bedroom units in Townsville's CBD were fetching as much as $400 per week this most recent quarter, in 2018 the median weekly rent for one-bedroom flats was $230, according to data from Queensland's Residential Tenancy Authority.
"[Because of this], we've now got a lot of first home buyers entering the market and a lot of people purchasing homes who are coming out of that rental market, decreasing supply," he said.
Townsville's vacancy rate is currently at 0.7 per cent, and while that's up from 0.6 per cent in September last year it is around the lowest it has been in more than 10 years.
Mr Kingsberry said the region's current position meant it was in need of more houses.
"But we're still in the situation, in Townsville, where the cost of building a brand new home and making it an investment is very, very high compared to buying an established property and putting tenants in it," he said.
No short-term fix
Mr Kingsberry said there was no quick-fix to the region's supply issue.
"The majority of the supply depends on those mum and dad investors going out and creating more homes," he said.
Three-bedroom homes were the most in demand, with Mr Kingsberry saying it was common to receive 20 to 30 applications per property.
He wanted to see more incentives for Queensland landlords.
He also said he believed high stamp duty rates and first homeowner grants were incentives that should be looked into to create more housing.
"Whatever we can do to encourage more investors into the market will make a big difference," Mr Kingsberry said.
