Australia Yearbook - 2009-10

10.7 OWNER AND RENTER HOUSEHOLDS, By state and territory—2007–08
%
Owner without a mortgage
60
Owner with a mortgage
50 Renter - private landlord
Renter - state/territory housing authority
40
30
20
10
0
NSW Vic. Qld SA WA Tas. NT(a) ACT Aust.
(a) Excludes households in collection districts defined as very remote, accounting for about 23% of
the population in the Northern Territory.
Source: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (4130.0).
%
100
80
10.8 OWNER AND RENTER HOUSEHOLDS, By dwelling type—2007–08
Separate house
Semi-detached/row or terrace house/townhouse
Flat/unit/apartment
60
40
20
0
Owner Renter – public(a) Renter – private landlord
(a) Renting from a state or territory housing authority.
Source: ABS data available on request, Survey of Income and Housing.
home ownership may reflect increasing uptake of
flexible low-cost financing options which allow
households to extend their existing home
mortgages for purposes other than the original
home purchase (see Home buyers).
Tenure type is closely related to a household's life
cycle stage (see Housing and life cycle stages) so
differences in tenure patterns between
geographic regions are partly a reflection of
differences in the age and family structures of
regional populations. For example, in 2007–08,
those states with the oldest age structures (i.e.
South Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales and
Victoria) had the four highest rates of outright
home ownership.
The Northern Territory had the lowest home
ownership rate (56%) and the lowest proportion
of outright owners (19%) (graph 10.7). The
Northern Territory also had the highest
proportion of renters overall (42%), and the
highest proportion of public renters (11%). This
pattern of housing tenure reflects the Territory's
young age structure (the youngest in Australia),
highly mobile work force, and relatively large
Indigenous population.
Australia's preference for a free-standing house
on its own block of land is most evident among
home owners. Of the 5.5 million households that
owned their home in 2007–08, 88% lived in
separate houses (graph 10.8). Over a half (56%)
of all renter households lived in separate houses;
30% lived in flats, units or apartments; and 14%
lived in semi-detached dwellings.
322 Year Book Australia 2009–10