The data comes from a report released by Domain Real Estate.
Sydney prices made their biggest leap in four years, with average rent prices now $530 per week.
And the city now boasts the highest home-unit prices in the country, at $510.
While other cities haven't risen as sharply, advocates and economists say the trend is a concern for all of Australia.
Housing affordability advocates say rent increases are not just a Sydney problem.
National Shelter chief executive, Adrian Pisarski, is not surprised by the latest report findings.
"It's exactly what we expect essentially. We've been trying to signal major issues with renal affordability in Australia for the last ten years and the situation just keeps deteriorating. The fact that Perth and Darwin have come back a little bit is really just due to lower activity in the mining boom. But all of our capitals, by and large, have been getting far more expensive."
Mr Pisarksi says low-income households represent the most vulnerable tenants in Australia.
He says certain demographics within that category are often worse-off than others, such as single older women, young people, Indigenous Australians, refugees and migrants.
Professor Hal Pawson, from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, says low-income households are being pushed out of capital cities.
"The geography of low-income renters has moved drastically since the 1980s, further and further out from the city centres in Sydney and in Melbourne. So it may be the case that people are going to be pushed even beyond the edges of cities into satellite towns beyond commuting range, which would be very serious for them, because it probably makes it even less likely that they're going to be able to access good-paying employment."
National Shelter's Adrian Pisarski says he'd like to see the government take tax reform seriously in tackling the issue of housing affordability.
He says investors and homeowners are unfairly advantaged in the system, to the detriment of tenants.
"I think the first point is being prepared to listen and have an open conversation about what the scale of the problem is, and the scale of the response that is required. Renters never get the relief that owners and investors get in the market. Their costs always go up, and their incomes don't go up with them."
There are some pockets of relief, with Brisbane rents stable over the past year and a higher vacancy rate, meaning more choice for renters.
The mining capitals, Perth and Darwin, continue to go down but Darwin still remains the most expensive city to rent a house in Australia.
Domain Group senior economist Andrew Wilson says most capitals display underlying growth in rent.
And he says an oversupply of housing and apartments won't necessarily lower rent in most cities.
"Despite record numbers of new apartment approvals in Sydney and record numbers in some of the other capitals, we're still seeing upward pressure on rent. So I think that, particularly in that Sydney market, that underlying demand will continue to fall ahead of the supply and of course that means higher rather than lower rent. And not good news for tenants going forward."
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