Who owns Australia’s homes? Census shows the winners and the losers in the housing stakes
The variation in homeownership levels reflect core Australian and immigrant values. And religion is part of the story.
It is a question that will not go away. If access to the housing market is eluding the grasp of young Australians, then who owns Australia’s homes? And especially in Sydney? Is it cashed up baby boomers? Is it expat Aussies swooping in with English pounds and/or US dollars? Is it foreign nationals?
Fortunately, the census provides clues if not direct answers. In this column, I look at the demographic groups that report high levels of home ownership (outright or with a mortgage). It’s a simple enough question: who owns Australia’s homes?
The best way to answer this question using the census is by cross-tabulating home ownership with a series of demographic metrics for each household’s primary reference person (ie household head).
Around 6.5 million Australians aged 15+ acted as the primary reference person at the most recent census. Most were female. A few teenagers reported owning their own home. (Maybe a gift.) Bear in mind that not every household responded to every question. But even so, the results of this vast survey contribute to the story of home ownership.
Home ownership in Australia is cumulatively achieved with age. Of those acting as the head of the household, the proportion stating they owned their own home (with a mortgage) increased from 30 per cent at the age of 25 to 88 per cent for all years between the ages of 68 and 77.
And it makes sense. Australians work steadily throughout their working lives to save for and to buy a home of their own.
Home ownership therefore peaks for the average Australian in the late 60s and throughout the 70s.
Ownership rates drop to the mid-80-per-cent range for household heads in their late 70s and 80s. The reason for this shift is twofold.
Health incidents and even the death of a life partner at this stage of the life cycle can prompt a change of housing arrangements. The decision to move into a care facility reduces the pool of primary reference persons acting as household head at this stage of the life cycle.
Interestingly, in a separate census dataset, it is evident that there is a diminution of long-term mental health conditions (namely anxiety and depression) in the late 60s and across the 70s.
Here is a bright spot hidden within the life cycle that might be termed “the great contentment” where Australians seemingly revel in the security of home ownership, in the arrival of grandchildren, and in travel made possible by access to superannuation.
One of the reasons why retirees dominate the homeownership market in the modern world is because Australians are living longer.
There are proportionately more Australians living into their 60s, 70s and 80s today than there were a generation ago.
Longevity is shifting the balance of the housing stock from the young and the middle-aged to the middle-aged and the retired.
Now let’s shift the focus from the age of homeownership to ethnicity.
Some 73 per cent of primary reference persons born in Australia stated that they owned their own home at the census. This proportion jumped to 90 per cent in the case of Australian residents born in Malta.
This might be because immigrants from Malta are especially focused on homeownership. Or it might reflect the older age profile of immigrants from this part of the world.
Other ethnicities that show a predisposition towards home ownership include immigrants from Italy, Croatia, Greece, Cyprus and North Macedonia. In these eastern Mediterranean and Adriatic nations, between 85-89 per cent of primary reference persons reported owning their own home.
At the other end of the spectrum are primary reference persons least likely to report owning their home including immigrants from Somalia (14 per cent) and the Cook Islands (24 per cent).
Based on these figures, homeownership rates can jump fourfold depending on ethnicity and no doubt on the age profile of the immigrant group. Longevity within Australia converts into higher rates of homeownership.
In matters of religious affiliation, there is wide variation in homeownership experiences. Generally, the big Christian religions fare better in the homeownership stakes than those professing no religion. For example, 76 per cent of Catholic primary reference persons stated they owned a home. This proportion jumped to 80 per cent for Anglicans, to 82 per cent for followers of the Uniting Church, to 83 per cent for Greek Orthodox and, top of the lot, to 90 per cent for congregants of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
Real estate agents looking to expand their market might consider going to church, perhaps.
At the other end of the scale are religious affiliations that are poorly correlated to homeownership. Just 43 per cent of primary reference persons declaring a Wiccan (witchcraft) belief system report owning a home.
What job is most likely to also deliver homeownership in Australia and in what industry?
There are 1300 occupations defined by the census. The job that is most likely to be associated with homeownership isn’t anything high falutin: it’s sheep farmer, wherein 89 per cent of primary reference persons report homeownership.
This is a common theme because other jobs most likely to deliver home ownership comprise agribusiness occupations like beef cattle farmer and mixed-crop and livestock farmer. And in many respects, this is to be expected: the job of farming and the home are collocated on the same property.
Other high homeowning jobs not connected to agribusiness include occupations like school principal, detective, anaesthetist and secretary where 86-87 per cent of workers report owning their own home.
Maybe some school principals live on the school grounds. Anaesthetists are invariably high income earners. But why are detectives on this list? Maybe there’s a link between the skill of solving crimes and of finding the right property.
At the other end of the range are jobs that are least likely to be associated with homeownership. For example, just 39 per cent of primary reference persons employed as waiters report owning their own home. This proportion rises to 40 per cent for bar attendants and baristas.
Industries most likely to support homeowning jobs include agribusiness (of course) and, oddly enough, alumina production (access to overtime, I imagine).
Industries least likely to support homeowning jobs include pubs, cafes and call centres.
Correlating homeownership with age, ethnicity, religious affiliation and job description offers colourful interpretations of who it is that owns Australia’s homes. But often these metrics are shaped by the overarching issue of stage in the life cycle.
Nowhere is this better illustrated than in data tracking the number of years immigrants have been in Australia. This is a proxy for age, since most skilled immigrants arrive in their 20s or 30s.
Generally, half the primary-reference-person immigrant population reports owning a home within a decade of arrival. This proportion approaches 80+ per cent by an immigrant’s sixth and seventh decade in Australia.
Perhaps it isn’t all that surprising but, according to the census, homeownership is easier in some towns than in others.
For example, more than 80 per cent of primary reference persons in Gisborne (Vic), Bacchus Marsh, Camden Haven, Castlemaine and Ulverstone reported that they owned their own home.
But in Port Hedland, Karratha, Broome and Mt Isa this proportion drops to between 27 and 53 per cent of households.
The variation in homeownership levels reflect core Australian and immigrant values. As a nation, we are prepared to pursue home ownership for decades. And many Australians achieve this goal by their active retirement years – say, 65 to 79 – and which form the basis to what I am calling “the great contentment”.
So, who does own Australia’s homes? The answer is simple. The quintessential homeowning cohort (based on census evidence) is most likely to be a female, Christian, perhaps a former secretary, now aged late 60s or 70s, who arrived from Malta in the 1960s but who now lives on an acreage allotment in Gisborne on Melbourne’s edge.
Home ownership will remain a core aspiration for the Australian people. The question that emerges is what happens if a younger middle Australia feels locked out of the housing market? Much of our social cohesion depends upon the belief that the Australian dream is attainable across the life cycle.
Bernard Salt is founder of The Demographics Group; data by data scientist Hari Hara Priyah Kannan.