Challenging conditions continue for people wishing to rent housing across the Western Plains. Suburbtrends, a property analysis company has released their "Rental Pain Index" which offers rental insights into all NSW local government areas.

Statistics include rental affordability (as a percentage of income), rent rises in the past 12 months and vacancy rates. From this, the "pain index" is produced with a maximum score of 100.

Some western plains communities are among the hardest hit, with rental pain points towards the top end of the scale.

Kent Lardner, founder of Suburbtrends said NSW has become a dominant player in rental stress statistics where some areas renters need to allocate 45 per cent of their income to rent.

 Nationally, among the top 25 worst-affected suburb groups, rental affordability consistently crosses the 35 per cent threshold, often considered well above the tipping point for financial stress.

"Strikingly low vacancy rates exacerbate the existing rental stress, making it increasingly difficult for renters to find suitable housing," Mr Lardner said.

A Gilgandra based real estate agent told Western Plains App that the statistics were not surprising.

"We have zero rentals in Coonamble and only a few recently popped up in Gil," the spokesperson said. "Things have definitely gotten worse with people from Sydney and bigger places wanting to move out here. There was a time we had an excess of rentals, but not anymore."

This local perspective is reflected in the Suburbtrends data. Coonamble's 12 month rent increase is a staggering 82.29 per cent and Gilgandra's renters pay 22.45 per cent of their income to rental payments.

"We get rentals and they are gone within a day," the real estate spokesperson said. "People come in and complete an application form and then quite often go on a waitlist."

 As far as the "Rental Pain Index", numbers vary across the region with Condobolin coming in at 19.48 per cent and Cobar at 26.54 per cent. At the other end of the scale, we see Coonamble at 71.73 per cent and Narromine at 78.09 per cent.

Mr Lardner said the current index should serve as a stern wake-up call for policymakers.

"It's not merely about escalating numbers but about deteriorating living conditions for Australian renters. As we enter the final quarter of the year, there is an urgent need for targeted policy interventions to alleviate the immense strain renters are under," he said.

Anyone wanting to access the interactive link and study local property rental data can head to https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/15400093/