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HOUSING COSTS AND INCOME
Housing costs cover different items for different types of tenure. For owners who have no mortgage, housing costs comprise the rates paid. For owners with a mortgage, housing costs consist of the value of the mortgage payments as well as property rates. For households renting their dwelling, housing costs comprise the regular rental amounts paid to landlords.
In the 2002-03 Survey of Income and Housing, owners with a mortgage reported average housing costs of $246 per week, somewhat higher than the average housing costs for other forms of tenure (table 8.7). Households renting from private landlords had average weekly housing costs of $189, compared with $81 for tenants of state or territory housing authorities. However, comparisons between the gross private rents paid and the rents paid by tenants of housing authorities do not account for those private renters receiving CRA. Whereas housing authority tenants pay a reduced rent, CRA recipients receive additional benefits from the Australian Government to enable higher private rents to be paid.
8.7 OWNER AND RENTER HOUSEHOLDS, Housing costs by household composition - 2002-03
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| Couple, one family | | | | |
|
| | | | |
Tenure and landlord type | Couple
only | Couple with dependent
children only | Couple -
other | Total
couples,
one family | One parent
and dependents,
one family | Lone
person | Other | Total |
|
AVERAGE WEEKLY HOUSING COSTS ($) |
|
Owner without a mortgage | 24 | 31 | 29 | 26 | 30 | 20 | 29 | 25 |
Owner with a mortgage | 262 | 266 | 229 | 258 | 183 | 199 | 239 | 246 |
Renter -state/territory housing authority | 93 | 125 | 146 | 119 | 84 | 59 | 101 | 81 |
Renter - private landlord | 211 | 218 | 223 | 215 | 171 | 157 | 204 | 189 |
Total renters(a) | 197 | 204 | 204 | 201 | 143 | 130 | 191 | 166 |
Total owner and renter households | 121 | 209 | 135 | 158 | 136 | 96 | 152 | 140 |
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AVERAGE GROSS WEEKLY INCOME ($) |
|
Owner without a mortgage | 807 | 1,352 | 1,613 | 1,083 | 880 | 437 | 1,105 | 901 |
Owner with a mortgage | 1,514 | 1,455 | 1,997 | 1,570 | 853 | 810 | 1,562 | 1,439 |
Renter - state/territory housing authority | 551 | 701 | 1,037 | 735 | 468 | 254 | 708 | 443 |
Renter - private landlord | 1,223 | 1,111 | 1,611 | 1,216 | 618 | 606 | 1,248 | 950 |
Total renters(a) | 1,162 | 1,078 | 1,492 | 1,167 | 570 | 518 | 1,189 | 854 |
Total owner and renter households | 1,068 | 1,361 | 1,763 | 1,309 | 683 | 534 | 1,253 | 1,070 |
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AVERAGE HOUSING COSTS AS A PROPORTION OF INCOME (%) |
|
Owner without a mortgage | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | *5 | 3 | 3 |
Owner with a mortgage | 17 | 18 | 11 | 16 | 21 | *25 | 15 | 17 |
Renter - state/territory housing authority | 17 | 18 | 14 | 16 | 18 | 23 | 14 | 18 |
Renter - private landlord | 17 | 20 | 14 | 18 | 28 | 26 | **16 | 20 |
Total renters(a) | 17 | 19 | 14 | 17 | 25 | 25 | **16 | 19 |
Total owner and renter households | 11 | 15 | 8 | 12 | 20 | 17 | *12 | 13 |
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HOUSEHOLDS (’000) |
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Owner without a mortgage | 1,033.8 | 321.4 | 376.4 | 1,731.6 | 74.3 | 768.6 | 205.9 | 2,780.4 |
Owner with a mortgage | 531.8 | 1,044.5 | 350.1 | 1,926.4 | 123.7 | 315.6 | 159.3 | 2,525.0 |
Renter - state/territory housing authority | 28.6 | 28.9 | 20.8 | 78.3 | 91.0 | 173.8 | 29.7 | 372.8 |
Renter - private landlord | 303.9 | 294.7 | 73.0 | 671.6 | 212.5 | 536.4 | 259.7 | 1,680.2 |
Total renters(a) | 348.8 | 338.0 | 96.3 | 783.1 | 315.6 | 758.0 | 296.4 | 2,153.2 |
Total owner and renter households | 1,914.4 | 1,703.9 | 822.7 | 4,444.1 | 513.6 | 1,842.3 | 661.6 | 7,458.6 |
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HOUSEHOLD AND DWELLING SIZE (no.) |
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Average persons in household | 2.0 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 2.5 |
Average bedrooms in dwelling | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
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(a) Includes other landlord types.
Source: ABS data available on request, Survey of Income and Housing, 2002-03. |
For many households, weekly housing costs are a significant proportion of their gross weekly income. In 2002-03 housing costs represented 17% of gross weekly income for owners with a mortgage, 18% of gross weekly income for tenants of a state or territory housing authority and 20% of gross weekly income for tenants renting from a private landlord (table 8.7). Housing costs as a proportion of income differed depending on tenure type, landlord type and household composition (graph 8.8 and table 8.9). However, treating CRA as a rent subsidy rather than as a component of income would reduce the difference in rents between private renters and housing authority tenants.
See also Housing costs - capital cities, which focuses on capital city households, drawing on results from the same survey.
8.9 OWNER AND RENTER HOUSEHOLDS, Housing costs as a proportion of income - 2002-03
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| | | | Renter | |
| | | |
| |
Housing costs as a proportion of income | Units | Owner
without a
mortgage | Owner
with a
mortgage | State/territory
housing
authority | Private
landlord | Total(a) | Total |
|
25% or less | % | 96.8 | 71.1 | 78.5 | 57.0 | 61.4 | 77.9 |
More than 25-30% | % | *0.2 | 9.6 | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.8 | 6.5 |
More than 30-50% | % | 0.5 | 12.8 | 9.5 | 21.2 | 18.8 | 9.9 |
More than 50%(b) | % | 2.5 | 6.5 | *1.3 | 11.2 | 9.1 | 5.7 |
Total | % | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
Total households | '000 | 2,780.4 | 2,525.0 | 372.8 | 1,680.2 | 2,153.3 | 7,458.6 |
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(a) Includes other landlord types.
(b) Includes households with nil or negative total income.
Source: ABS data available on request, Survey of Income and Housing, 2002-03. |
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