Australian Property News

The nature of Australian households

Posted on Thursday, June 21 2012 at 2:39 PM

Today’s release of 2011 Census data reveals how Australian households have changed since the last snapshot of society five years earlier.

Across the country, there are now more than 9.1 million private dwellings – an increase from 8.42 million in the 2006 Census.

According to the data, 23.5 per cent of Australians live in an apartment or townhouse, representing a marginal increase in attached living.

The makeup of households remains largely unchanged. The proportion of people in group households is also up slightly to 4.1 per cent, with a small drop in the number of single households to 24.3 per cent.

The popularity of large homes also hasn’t abated since 2006, with a rise in the proportion of people living in houses with four or more bedrooms to 30.3 per cent of all dwellings.

The median weekly household income sits at $1234 and the median monthly mortgage repayment is $1800.

Mortgage-free ownership has dipped since 2006, down to 32.1 per cent. Almost 35 per cent of all dwellings are owned with a mortgage and 29.6 per cent are rented.

The average median weekly rent is $285.

Other key statistics include:

• Total population of 21,507,717 – 10,634,013 male and 10,873,704 female
• Median age of 37-years-old
• Average of 2.6 people per dwelling
• Average of 1.9 children per family
• Total of 5,684,062 families
• Top countries of birth are Australia, England, New Zealand, China and India.