Every figure on NestLedger traces back to a primary government dataset. This page lists every source, what it provides, how often it is refreshed, and where to verify the original numbers. The methodology page explains how these datasets are combined to produce the affordability calculations.
NSW DCJ Rent and Sales Report
| Publisher | NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) |
| What it provides | Median weekly rent for new tenancies by postcode and bedroom type (1BR, 2BR, 3BR, all dwellings), derived from residential bond lodgements with NSW Fair Trading. Covers new tenancies only — lease renewals at existing properties are not included. |
| Granularity | Postal Area (postcode), NSW only |
| Update cadence | Quarterly, approximately 3 months after the reference quarter ends |
| Last fetched | Q1 2026 release (data ingested into the current build in May 2026) |
| Next expected update | Approximately 3 months after each calendar quarter end (March, June, September, December) |
| Licence | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) |
| Source | dcj.nsw.gov.au — Rent and Sales Report |
QLD Residential Tenancies Authority — Bond Statistics
| Publisher | Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA), Queensland |
| What it provides | Median weekly rent for new residential tenancies by suburb and property type, derived from bond lodgements with the RTA. Includes separate figures for houses, units, and all dwellings by bedroom count. |
| Granularity | Suburb, Queensland only |
| Update cadence | Quarterly, approximately 3 months after the reference quarter ends |
| Last fetched | Q1 2026 release (data ingested into the current build in May 2026) |
| Next expected update | Approximately 3 months after each calendar quarter end |
| Licence | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) |
| Source | rta.qld.gov.au — Median Rents Quick Finder |
VIC Homes Victoria (DFFH) Rental Report
| Publisher | Homes Victoria, Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH), Victoria |
| What it provides | Median and moving annual median weekly rents by suburb and Local Government Area (LGA), stratified by dwelling type and bedroom count. Derived from residential bond lodgements held by the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority (RTBA). Some low-volume suburbs are reported as grouped areas; these are flagged on the relevant suburb pages. |
| Granularity | Suburb and LGA, Victoria only |
| Update cadence | Quarterly, approximately 6 months after the reference quarter ends — the longest lag of the three states |
| Last fetched | Most recent DFFH release available at build time (May 2026); VIC's ~6-month publication lag means this typically lines up with the Q3 2025 reference quarter |
| Next expected update | Approximately 6 months after each calendar quarter end |
| Licence | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) |
| Source | discover.data.vic.gov.au — Rental Report: Quarterly Moving Annual Rents by Suburb |
ABS Census 2021 — Median Household Income by SAL/Suburb
| Publisher | Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) |
| What it provides | Median household weekly income and median individual weekly income at Suburbs and Localities (SAL) geography, from the 2021 Census of Population and Housing (Table G02: Selected Medians and Averages). Used as the income denominator in the affordability ratio for each suburb. |
| Granularity | SAL (Suburbs and Localities / suburb-equivalent), national coverage |
| Update cadence | Every 5 years (Australian Census cycle) |
| Last fetched | 2021 Census release (published by the ABS from June 2022 onwards); ingested via the ABS SDMX Data API (dataset C21_G02_SAL) and cached for the duration of the Census cycle |
| Next expected update | 2026 Census data expected from ABS in 2027–2028 |
| Licence | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) |
| Source | abs.gov.au — Census DataPacks |
ABS ASGS 2021 — Postcode ↔ Suburb/SAL Concordance
| Publisher | Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) |
| What it provides | Centroid coordinates for Statistical Area Level (SAL, suburb-equivalent) and Postal Area (POA, postcode-equivalent) geographic units under the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3, 2021. We use these centroid layers to build a POA → SAL concordance via nearest-centroid matching, linking postcodes to suburb-level SAL geography. Also provides suburb name and state from the SAL codelist. |
| Granularity | SAL (suburb) and POA (postcode) centroids, national coverage |
| Update cadence | Updated with each ASGS edition (typically aligned with Census cycles, every 5 years) |
| Last fetched | ASGS Edition 3, 2021 (the latest release available) — fetched via ABS ArcGIS FeatureServer and cached in the build pipeline |
| Next expected update | ASGS Edition 4 expected with 2026 Census geography refresh |
| Licence | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) |
| Source | abs.gov.au — ASGS Edition 3 Digital Boundary Files |
ABS Consumer Price Index (CPI)
| Publisher | Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) |
| What it provides | Quarterly price index values for all groups and selected expenditure categories (including rents, housing, food, transport, electricity) by capital city. Used for cost-of-living index calculations and comparisons between cities. |
| Granularity | Capital city, national |
| Update cadence | Quarterly, approximately 6 weeks after the reference quarter ends |
| Last fetched | Q1 2026 release (data ingested into the current build in May 2026 via the ABS SDMX Data API, dataset CPI 2.0.0) |
| Next expected update | Approximately 6 weeks after each calendar quarter end |
| Licence | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) |
| Source | abs.gov.au — Consumer Price Index, Australia |
ATO Resident Individual Income Tax Brackets
| Publisher | Australian Taxation Office (ATO) |
| What it provides | Marginal income tax rates and thresholds for Australian resident individuals, plus the 2% Medicare levy. Used by the salary calculator to convert gross salary inputs into take-home pay for the "salary needed" affordability figure. Not used in the rent-to-income ratio itself, which is computed on gross income. |
| Granularity | National (resident individuals); excludes HELP, Medicare levy surcharge, and offsets |
| Update cadence | Reviewed each financial year (1 July – 30 June) |
| Last fetched | FY 2025-26 schedule |
| Next expected update | Reviewed at the start of FY 2026-27 (July 2026), or sooner if the ATO publishes mid-year changes |
| Licence | Commonwealth of Australia (Crown copyright). Bracket values are reproduced for context only and are not relied on as tax advice — see the disclaimer below. |
| Source | ato.gov.au — Income and allowances |
The take-home pay calculation is a simplified, general-information estimate. It does not account for HELP/HECS repayments, the Medicare levy surcharge, private-health offsets, dependant rebates, or salary-sacrifice arrangements. For your actual tax position, consult the ATO or a registered tax agent.
Neighbourhood enrichment datasets
Suburb and comparison pages may also show crime, school and public transport context. These fields are supplementary quality-of-life signals, not inputs to the rent-to-income affordability formula.
- Crime: Queensland Police Service Crime Map API, Crime Statistics Agency Victoria LGA recorded offences, and NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research recorded crime exports.
- Schools: NSW public schools master dataset, Victorian school locations data, and Queensland state school geographic information KML feeds for primary, junior secondary and senior secondary sites.
- Public transport: Public GTFS timetable feeds from PTV Victoria and Translink Queensland, plus TfNSW Open Data GTFS when a valid API token is available.
Some enrichment providers require manual exports or API credentials, so refresh cadence varies by state and provider. The pipeline stores the raw files under the corresponding crime, schools or GTFS folders before merging them into suburb-level summaries.