Australia Yearbook - 2001

306 Year Book Australia 2001
Housing affordability
Housing costs
Housing costs cover different items for different
types of tenure. For households renting their
dwelling, housing costs comprise the regular rental
amounts paid to landlords. For owners with a
mortgage, housing costs comprise the value of the
mortgage payments as well as property rates. For
owners who have no mortgage, housing costs
comprise only the rates paid.
In 1997–98, mean weekly housing costs for all
owner and renter households were $110
(table 8.10). However, there was considerable
variation in housing costs, with half of all
households having payments of less than $71 per
week.
Housing costs for owners with a mortgage, at an
average of $205 per week, were higher than for
other forms of tenure. Households renting from
private landlords had mean weekly housing costs
of $157, compared to $63 for tenants of State
housing authorities.
Tenure type
8.10 HOUSING COSTS, By Tenure Type and Household Composition—1997–98
Couple
only
Couple with
dependent
children only
Coupleother
Total
couples
One
parentone
family
Lone
person Other Total
MEAN WEEKLY HOUSING COSTS ($)
Owner without a mortgage 20 27 23 22 19 16 31 21
Owner with a mortgage 220 214 196 212 154 178 233 205
Renter—State housing
authority 75 99 115 96 63 39 (a)85 63
Renter—private landlord 160 181 211 175 141 126 180 157
Total renters(b) 147 161 165 156 111 98 169 132
Total owner and renter
households 93 157 100 120 93 76 155 110
MEAN WEEKLY INCOME ($)
Owner without a mortgage 625 1 165 1 347 927 748 378 1 008 778
Owner with a mortgage 1 127 1 134 1 620 1 221 800 670 1 389 1 131
Renter—State housing
authority 377 679 821 626 371 186 (a)605 371
Renter—private landlord 925 886 1 521 961 557 477 989 773
Total renters(b) 861 860 1 338 920 506 396 963 694
Total owner and renter
households 794 1 083 1 443 1 040 645 435 1 069 863
MEAN HOUSING COSTS AS A PROPORTION OF INCOME (%)
Owner without a mortgage 3 2 2 2 3 4 3 3
Owner with a mortgage 19 19 12 17 19 27 17 18
Renter—State housing
authority 20 15 14 15 17 21 (a)14 17
Renter—private landlord 17 20 14 18 25 26 18 20
Total renters(b) 17 19 12 17 22 25 18 19
Total owner and renter
households 12 14 7 12 14 17 15 13
HOUSEHOLDS (’000)
Owner without a mortgage 916.5 404.2 430.3 1 751.0 194.2 704.5 112.3 2 762.0
Owner with a mortgage 408.0 890.7 287.7 1 586.4 142.1 276.3 125.0 2 129.8
Renter—State housing
authority 29.3 49.6 23.9 102.9 102.0 165.5 (a)19.0 389.4
Renter—private landlord 238.1 274.0 51.5 563.5 181.2 423.0 270.0 1 437.7
Total renters(b) 283.3 351.8 89.2 724.3 302.5 638.7 312.1 1 977.5
Total owner and renter
households 1 607.7 1 646.8 807.2 4 061.7 638.9 1 619.5 549.3 6 869.3
AVERAGE NUMBERS
Average persons in household 2.0 4.1 3.9 3.2 2.7 1.0 3.0 2.6
Average bedrooms in dwelling 2.9 3.3 3.5 3.2 3.0 2.3 3.0 3.0
(a) The estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50%. (b) Includes other renters.
Source: Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia (4130.0).