Two in three Australians own their home, according to new data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this week.
The bureau’s latest Survey of Income and Housing (SIH), which measures housing occupancy and costs and how these change over time, shows that in 2019–20, 66% of Australian households owned their own home, with or without a mortgage.
Almost one-third (31%) of households rented their home.
At the time, average weekly housing costs were $493 for owners with a mortgage; $54 for owners without a mortgage; and $379 for renters.
Interestingly, these figures changed very little from the previous survey in 2017–18, with costs falling $5 per week for owners with a mortgage and increasing by $2 for renters. No change was observed for owners without a mortgage.
Household spending of their gross weekly income on housing costs decreased from 13.9% (2017–18) to 13.6% in 2019–20. Owners with a mortgage spent 16% and renters spent 20% of their income on housing costs, which was consistent with 2017–18.
The average number of people per household remained stable at 2.6, while the average number of bedrooms per dwelling decreased from 3.2 to 3.1.
Applying the Canadian National Occupancy Standard for housing utilisation, almost one in twenty-five (4%) Australian households required at least one additional bedroom to meet the requirements of the household, while more than three quarters (77%) of households had at least one bedroom spare.
One in five households (21%) owned one or more residential properties other than their usual residence. Of those, almost three quarters (68%) owned one other property, while one in twenty-five (4%) owned four or more.
First home buyers under 35 also made their mark, increasing by 6% in 2019-20.
