More Australian households are renting and the cost of renting is rising faster than the cost of owning, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics figures.
An ABS report on housing occupancy and costs, drawn from its Survey of Income and Housing, shows that the proportion of Australian households that own their home with or without a mortgage has fallen from 71 per cent in the 1999/2000 financial year to 66 per cent in 2019/20.
The proportion that own a home without a mortgage fell from 39 per cent to 30 per cent.
Over the 20-year period, housing costs (adjusted for inflation) for home owners with a mortgage rose by 40 per cent, while housing costs for private renters rose by 50 per cent.
Using the ratio of housing costs to gross household income as a measure of housing affordability, the housing affordability ratio for owners with a mortgage was 15.5 per cent in 2019/20, while the ratio for private renters was 20.2 per cent.
The average number of persons per household was 2.6 and the average number of bedrooms per dwelling was 3.1.
One in five households owned one or more residential properties other than their usual residence.