The most expensive outback town in Australia, where rent costs the same as Point Piper and Toorak

For the princely rent of $1400 a week, where would you most like to live: Sydney’s boujie Paddington, its glorious Bondi Beach, its millionaires’ row Point Piper, Melbourne’s stately, blue-chip Toorak or … Baynton?

Sorry, where? Baynton. It’s a tiny town of 2.7 square kilometres and just over 4000 people in the Pilbara region of Western Australia where people pay the highest weekly rent in regional Australia – about the same as in many capital-city top spots.

And what would you get in Baynton for that $1400 a week, instead of views of Sydney Harbour or a lifestyle in one of Victoria’s most salubrious areas?

Er … not so much, really.

$830.00 per week

19A Nyamina Road, Baynton WA 6714

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More like a large three or four-bedroom single-level house with dated furnishings, a patch of worn grass and thick blinds to draw against the harsh glare of the sun bouncing off the dust and shale of the dry, mineral-rich region.

“It’s just a regular mining town,” says Wendi Pobje of Pilbara Real Estate, after the latest Domain Rent Report for the last quarter revealed Baynton to be the priciest place in which to rent a home outside the cities.

“There’s lots of work here which attracts people, and Baynton is a newer area of Karratha with a lot of executive homes.

 “The rent depends on the size of the property and it’s all about demand and supply.”

One house on offer at a weekly rent of just over the $1400 median is a four-bedroom home at 16 McCamey Loop, with an open-plan layout, air-conditioning and built-in wardrobes, available for $1450 a week.

$1400.00 per week

16 McCamey Loop, Baynton WA 6714

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Pobje has a cut-rate $1000-a-week alternative with three bedrooms at 5/13 Calliance Way, Baynton.

$1,000 per week

5/13 Calliance Way, Baynton WA 6714

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Just 15 kilometres away is the home of the nation’s second-highest regional rents – Dampier, also built on iron ore exports.

“Rents are expensive here, but wages are also high if you work in the mining sector,” says Vicki Beattie of Ray White Karratha, who is currently renting out 19 Forrest Crescent, Dampier, for $1400 – just $125 less than the town’s median.

Seeking expressions of interest

19 Forrest Crescent, Dampier WA 6713

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“A lot of low-income earners, who might work in Woolies or Coles, can find it very hard. But then there are a lot more owner-occupiers in town than rentals, and a lot of people working in the mining industry have accommodation included in their package.”

Nearby Nickol is another expensive town, with an average rent of $1100 a week, the same as Port Hedland, which sits 250 kilometres north and is the country’s biggest iron ore port.

Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell says location is always key in the rental market, and that usually means prime coastal or beautiful inland towns.

“Then there are also other layers, with might include some of the mining locations,” she says. “We’re seeing a lot of people relocating to these from traditionally higher-priced locations, like on the east coast of Australia.”

Higher salaries can drive up rents, Powell adds. “Many mining towns in Western Australia have seen considerable rates of rental growth, and it is often related to the mining cycle.”

As a result, these areas can be extremely volatile but, at the moment, they’re on a high with iron ore prices surging as a result of the Chinese government injecting stimuli into the nation’s property markets.

Elsewhere, it’s the more expected areas which are topping the rent tables. NSW’s Byron Bay now has a weekly median rent of $1100, which hasn’t changed in the past year. Just over 50 kilometres north, beachside Casuarina now has the same median rent, after rising 15.8 per cent over the past 12 months.

Andrea Jones of Combynd , which is advertising a three-bedroom house at nearby 37 Fingal Road, Fingal Head, for $1200 a week, says there have been a lot of new homes built in Casuarina over the last 10 years, which has tended to push rents up.

$990 weekly

37 Fingal Road, Fingal Head NSW 2487

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“The houses are now quite modern and so they’ve very appealing, especially with such close proximity to shops,” she says. “A lot of people have bought and are leasing at the moment, planning to move in and retire there later.

“It is a good alternative to Byron Bay. Byron is more traditional and backpackers, while Casuarina is more family and community.”

The pretty coastal town of Cable Beach in Broome, Western Australia, has a median rent of $1000 a week, while Burradoo in the NSW Southern Highlands will cost $993 a week.

Regional Queensland’s most expensive rental area is Worongary on the Gold Coast at $930 a week, while Melbourne’s priciest regional rental is Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula at $925.