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GLOSSARY

Assets

An entity of a financial or non-financial nature, owned by the household or its members, and from which economic benefits may be derived by holding or use over a period of time.

The ASGC was replaced by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) in July 2011. For more information refer to Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) (cat. no. 1216.0) and <https://www.abs.gov.au/geography>.

Under the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC), Balance of State represents each state or territory not defined as Capital City.

Compulsory payments to the governing body of a block of home units or apartments. The governing body consists of home unit owners or their representatives.

Capital city under the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) refers to Greater Capital City Statistical Areas (GCCSAs) as defined in the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001). For the Australian Capital Territory, the estimates relate predominantly to urban areas. All of the Australian Capital Territory is defined as capital city for this publication.

Capital city under the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) refers to Australia's six State capital city Statistical Divisions and the Darwin Statistical Division as defined in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) (cat. no. 1216.0). For the Australian Capital Territory the estimates relate predominantly to urban areas, and all of the Australian Capital Territory is defined as a capital city for this publication. Capital city estimates for the Northern Territory are not available on the CURF.

Census Collection District (CD) is the smallest geographic area defined in the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (cat. no. 1216.0).

A general measure of price inflation for the household sector in Australia. Specifically, it provides a measure of changes, over time, in the cost of a constant basket of goods and services acquired by capital city households in Australia.

Gross income less income tax, the Medicare levy and the Medicare levy surcharge i.e. remaining income after taxes are deducted, which is available to support consumption and/or saving. Income tax, Medicare levy and the Medicare levy surcharge are imputed based on each person's income and other characteristics as reported in the survey. Disposable income is sometimes referred to as net income.

Defined as a suite of rooms contained within a building which are self-contained and intended for long-term residential use. To be self-contained the suite of rooms must possess cooking and bathing facilities as building fixtures. Examples of types of dwelling include: separate house; semi-detached, row or terrace house or townhouse; flat, unit, or apartment; and other dwelling, including caravan, cabin, houseboat, and house or flat attached to a shop.

The dwelling structure type is determined by the structure of the building that contains the dwelling. Households belong to one of four dwelling categories:
• separate house
• semi-detached, row or terrace house or townhouse
• flat, unit, or apartment and
• other dwelling, including caravan or cabin in a caravan park, houseboat in a marina, caravan not in a caravan park, houseboat not in a marina and house or flat attached to a shop

Disposable household income adjusted using an equivalence scale. For a lone person household it is equal to disposable household income. For a household comprising more than one person, it is an indicator of the disposable household income that would need to be received by a lone person household to enjoy the same level of economic wellbeing as the household in question. For more information on the process of equivalisation, see the Survey of Income and Housing, User Guide, Australia, 2013 - 14 (cat. no. 6553.0).

Includes all self-contained dwellings in blocks of flats, units or apartments. These dwellings do not have their own private grounds and usually share a common entrance foyer or stairwell. This category includes houses converted into flats and flats attached to houses such as granny flats. A house with a granny flat attached is regarded as a separate house.

The estimated market rent that a dwelling would attract if it were to be commercially rented.

Income from all sources, whether monetary or in kind, before income tax, the Medicare levy and the Medicare levy surcharge are deducted.

Current receipts from private organisations and other households, including wages and salaries, income from own business, superannuation, workers' compensation, income from annuities, interest, dividends, royalties, income from rental properties, scholarships and child support.

A person living alone or a group of related or unrelated people who usually live in the same private dwelling.

A lease arrangement in which the tenant has the right to occupy the dwelling for an indefinite or unspecified period.

The rent that a dwelling would attract if it was commercially rented.

For the purpose of this study, a market renter is a household that rents its dwelling from a real-estate agent, an unrelated person not living in the same household, or the owner/manager of a caravan park.

A mortgage is a loan taken out using the usual residence as security. An owner with a mortgage must still owe money from such a loan.

A household in which at least one member owns the dwelling in which the household members usually reside. Owners are divided into two classifications - owners without a mortgage and owners with a mortgage. If there is any outstanding mortgage or loan secured against the dwelling the household is an owner with a mortgage. If there is no mortgage or loan secured against the dwelling the household is an owner without a mortgage.

A dwelling usually inhabited by its owner.

A household paying rent to a state or territory housing authority/trust.

Groupings that result from ranking all households or people in the population in ascending order according to some characteristic such as their household income and then dividing the population into five equal groups, each comprising 20% of the estimated population.

Rent-free is a tenure arrangement where the unit (i.e. household, income unit or person) exchanges no money for lodging and is not an owner of the dwelling.

A household that pays rent to reside in the dwelling. See 'Landlord type' for further classification.

An arrangement under which an employee agrees contractually to forgo part of their remuneration, which the employee would otherwise receive as wages and salaries, in return for the employer or someone associated with the employer providing benefits of a similar value.

A state/territory government authority which, under the Housing Assistance Act 1996 (Cwlth) and in accordance with a Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement, is charged with the provision of housing assistance.

A household renting its dwelling for less than it would be expected to pay in a commercial market. For the purpose of this study, subsidised renters are those households renting from a parent or other relative not living in the same household, an employer, or a housing cooperative or community/church group. However, some households in these categories were judged to be paying commercial rents; net imputed rent for such households was zero.

See Net worth.