Australian home ownership stable despite soaring prices

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released home ownership data for the year ended 2019-20, with Australia’s home ownership rate remaining constant at 66%:

However, there has been a sharp decline in home ownership rates over the past two decades:

• Home ownership with or without a mortgage decreased from 71% to 66%.
  • Home ownership without a mortgage decreased from 39% to 30%.
  • Home ownership with a mortgage increased from 32% to 37%.

Over the same period, the proportion of households renting rose from 27% to 31%.

Thanks to the sharp fall in mortgage rates, the proportion of gross household income going towards housing costs has fallen for mortgage holders, has risen for private renters, and is marginally higher for owners without a mortgage:

Specifically:

• Housing costs for owners with a mortgage have declined from 16.6% in 1999-00 to 15.5% in 2019-20;
• Housing costs for private renters have risen from 19.3% in 1999-00 to 20.2% in 2019-20; and
• Housing costs for owners without a mortgage have risen from 2.6% in 1999-00 to 3.0% in 2019-20.

With mortgage rates now on the rise, expect housing costs to rise substantially in future reports.