A rental listing explicitly asking for "expatriate clients only" in Papua New Guinea's capital has sparked accusations of discrimination, as research shows Port Moresby landlords are charging twice the amount of a typical household monthly income.

Key points: New research shows the average rent in Port Moresby is about $1,160 a month

New research shows the average rent in Port Moresby is about $1,160 a month Many renters in Port Moresby are forced to sublet their property in order to pay rent

Many renters in Port Moresby are forced to sublet their property in order to pay rent There are also no laws to stop rental bidding, meaning low-income households miss out

Screenshots of the ad for the two-bedroom unit in the area of East Boroko — with an asking price of 1,000 kina ($435) a week — was widely circulated on social media before the listing was pulled from PNG real estate portal Hausples this week.

The controversial listing, stating that the "landlord prefers expatriate clients only, as all current tenants are all expatriate", attracted widespread criticism, but its hefty price tag also raised many eyebrows.

This listing was pulled from PNG-based real estate portal Hausples. ( BestBuy Realty PNG )

According to the United Nations Development Programme, PNG's gross national income per capita is just $US2,386 ($3,555) a year, with an estimated 40 per cent of the population living on less than US$1.25 ($1.86) a day.

Meanwhile, the average rent in Port Moresby is about $1,160 a month — or $13,920 a year — according to yet-to-be-published research by Professor Eugene Ezebilo, head of the property development program at the PNG National Research Institute.

This means even a PNG household with two public service workers earning a gross median annual income of roughly $22,000 would be facing rental stress — usually defined as paying more than a third of one's income on rent.

In fact, Professor Ezebilo's new analysis on Port Moresby's rental market, based on findings in a 2017 property survey, found a typical rental property cost about 120 per cent of household income.

Meanwhile, families in Port Moresby's CBD paid double their household income on rent, while families living in the cheapest part of Port Moresby — a suburb called 8 Mile — were facing rental stress after paying 50 per cent of their wage on housing.

Many families with children have been forced out onto the streets, while others borrow money informally from their relatives to make ends meet.

These homeless children in Port Moresby often eat and sleep in a public toilet. ( ABC: Bethanie Harriman )

While it's difficult to draw a direct comparison with the rental markets in Sydney and Melbourne, where many tenants are also struggling to pay their rents, it appears Papua New Guineans are likely doing it tougher.

Port Moresby is also widely known as one of the most expensive cities for housing across the Pacific, and renters commonly face rental stress.

Multiple families living under one roof

This three-bedroom house in the Mantana housing compound in Port Moresby is listed for $740 a week. ( My PNG Home )

Professor Ezebilo told the ABC many renters in the capital shared accommodation with multiple families — for example, a three-bedroom apartment might house three families — while other tenants were squeezed out to what are known as "informal settlements".

The "informal settlements" are often on "customary" land, owned by Indigenous Papua New Guineans, and much more affordable compared with the "formal built areas".

Mr Ezebilo said developers were hesitant to build on customary land — which makes up 40 per cent of the capital — because there could be future ownership disputes.

This combined with the shortage of workers and building materials, which often had to be imported, meant there was a shortage of low-cost housing, as many of the new developments were aimed at high-salary tenants to maximise profits.

This three-bedroom house in Port Moresby with a master en suite is listed for $305 a week. ( My PNG Home )

And while many lower-income public servants also received a housing allowance, Mr Ezebilo said it was not sufficient.

"When you compare the housing allowance with the reality, you find out that it's nothing," he said.

The ABC found dozens of listings for properties in Port Moresby with a monthly asking price nearly on par with the median house rent in Sydney and Melbourne, at $530 and $430 per week respectively, according Domain data.

A two-bedroom "executive unit" with a balcony in Paga Hill was asking about $650 a week, while a three-bedroom fully-furnished house in East Boroko was listed at $436 a week.

Powes Parkop, the governor of the National Capital District, which includes Port Moresby, spoke last month at a press conference about the need to provide more suitable housing for low-income families.

"In the urban settlement we have about 300,000 people living there, men women and children," she said.

"They've come to subconsciously accept that maybe this is the quality of life that we are entitled to or we deserve. It's wrong, absolutely wrong.

"We cannot allow people to live in that type of condition anymore, where services [are] poor, amenities [are] poor, housing is poor, no sanitation, no basic needs, no roads.

"That can't be allowed to be the norm in this day and age."

No laws to control rental bidding

Professor Ezebilo said there were no laws when it came to price controls for properties — meaning the more that "corporates" and company executives were willing to pay, the higher the rents could get.

He said, however, that there was often a preference for corporate clients, many of whom would be expatriates working in PNG whose employers paid the rent on their behalf.

This two-bedroom executive apartment at Paga Hill is listed for $2,613 a month. ( My PNG Home )

However Mike Quinn, president of the Real Estate Industry Association in PNG, told the ABC that he rarely saw explicit discrimination, such as the expats-only rental listing in East Boroko.

Mr Quinn said their members adhered to a code of ethics that included not discriminating based on race, but the agency in this case — BestBuy Realty PNG — was not a member.

"Maybe there's implications from time to time but [it's] certainly not explicit, and generally speaking, the market is driven by the actual value of the rent rather than the [type of renters]," he said.

Professor Ezebilo said requests specifically for expatriates were uncommon, and may have even been a mistake in this particular case.

"If the PNG national comes [from] corporates, then I don't think there's any problem," he said.

"[Property developers] don't want to take the risk [of leasing to non-corporates], because someone might get into the house, and at the end of the month they may default."

Mathew Care, chief executive officer of Hausples, told the ABC the company does not condone properties being marketed solely to any race or ethnicity.

He said the listing was pulled within 24 hours, immediately after the company became aware of it.

"As a company and as an individual, I abhor racism in any form and it is certainly not my intention to foster it," he said.

"With more than 3,000 properties listed at any given time, we do not currently have the resources to moderate every individual property that is marketed.

"Moving forward we will review our moderation processes and apply more oversight."

The ABC approached the listing agent, BestBuy Realty PNG, for comment but it did not respond by publication time.