- Despite the recent downturn, home ownership in Australia remains steady, hovering between 67% and 70% since the 1970s.
- Latest available data shows 67% of Australian households own their home, 35% mortgaged and 32% owned outright.
- Australia ranks comparably with NZ, the US, and the UK in home ownership.
- Housing outcomes vary by age, with older Aussies far more likely to own their homes than the younger generations.
Home ownership is tied into the Australian national identity. The ‘Great Australian Dream’ since the early 20th century has simply been for Aussies to work toward owning a home of their own. Over the past few years, however, many people have warned that property price growth, which has swollen far above that of wages, is making this dream unattainable.
Beyond words, let’s look at what the numbers are saying about home ownership in Down Under.
Percentage of Home Ownership in Australia
Based on the Census 2021, overall home ownership rate (including owners with and without a mortgage) is 67% or equivalent to 6.2 million households, down from 70% in 2006.
- 35% (3.3 million households) own with a mortgage
- 32% (2.9 million households) own outright
- 31% (2.9 million households) rent
- ~2% (192k households) other tenure
Meanwhile, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) latest available Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) 2019-20, Australia’s rate of home ownership has gone from 71.4% to 66.2% in the span of 25 years.
- Quick note: SIH has a comprehensive estimate of home ownership in Australia and has collected detailed data since 1994/199. However, the ABS cancelled the 2023-24 SIH release due to quality concerns, so no newer official SIH rate is available as of this writing.
ABS’ Census 2021 reveals that despite the recent downturn, Australia’s overall home ownership rate has remained steady, hovering between 67% and 70% since the early 1970s.
On the international stage, Australia’s official home ownership rate compares somewhat favourably:
Nation | % of home ownership | Year data collected | Source |
Australia | 67% | 2021 | |
New Zealand | 66% | 2023 | |
United States | 65.7% | Q4 2025 | |
United Kingdom | 64.5% | 2023 | |
Germany | 41.9% | 2022 | |
France | 57.7% | 2021 |
In July 2024, the InfoChoice State of Aussies' Savings Survey also estimated home ownership rates in Australia. While the nationally representative sample size was smaller (just over 1,000), the figures are more recent, so they’re worth looking at.
According to the survey, the national home ownership rate is 61.4%.
The full breakdown of the survey respondents by residential status:
Total | |
Own my residence mortgage-free | 16.6% |
Own my residence with a mortgage | 44.8% |
Home ownership | 61.4% |
Rent my residence by myself | 9.4% |
Rent my residence with others | 20.3% |
Live with family rent-free | 7.4% |
Other | 1.5% |
Data source: InfoChoice State of Aussies' Savings Survey, 2024
Australia’s Home Ownership By State
Across the states and territories, the home ownership rate was highest in Western Australia and lowest in the Northern Territory, per the latest SIH.
State/Territory | Home Owners | Renters |
NSW | 64% | 33% |
VIC | 68% | 29% |
QLD | 64% | 35% |
WA | 69.3% | 28% |
SA | 69% | 30% |
TAS | 68% | 29% |
ACT | 69% | 28% |
NT | 59% | 40% |
Data source: ABS Survey of Income and Housing (SIH), 2019-20
Outright Home Ownership
Far fewer Australians own a home outright (i.e., without debt) these days compared to a decade ago. While there’s now more homeowners with a mortgage than without.
Here’s the breakdown per the ABS:
- 32% of households own a home without a mortgage (down from 39% in 1999-00)
- 35% of households own a home with a mortgage (up from 32% in 1999-00)
Home Ownership By Age
Home ownership outcomes vary sharply across age groups in Australians. Older generations post much higher ownership rates than younger generations.
Census 2021 data shows Australians:
- Born between 1947-1951 saw an increase from 54% home ownership at age 25-29 (in 1976) to 82% at age 70-74 (in 2021)
- Born between 1992-1996 had a home ownership rate of 36% when they were aged 25-29 (in 2021)
The InfoChoice survey also broke down residential status by age, finding that older Aussies are more likely to be homeowners.
More than three-quarters of baby boomers own their home, and nearly half without a mortgage, compared to just 24.3% of Gen Z.
Total | Baby boomers (1946 - 1964) | Gen X (1965 - 1980) | Millennials (1981 - 1996) | Gen Z (1997 - 2012) | |
Own my residence mortgage-free | 16.6% | 49.5% | 17.0% | 6.7% | 4.2% |
Own my residence with a mortgage | 44.8% | 29.0% | 52.9% | 59.0% | 20.1% |
Home ownership rate | 61.4% | 78.5% | 69.9% | 65.7% | 24.3% |
Rent my residence by myself | 9.4% | 8.1% | 12.0% | 9.0% | 7.9% |
Rent my residence with others | 20.3% | 10.8% | 15.4% | 19.8% | 37.0% |
Live with family rent-free | 7.4% | 1.1% | 1.9% | 4.6% | 27.0% |
Other | 1.5% | 1.6% | 0.8% | 0.8% | 3.7% |
Data source: InfoChoice State of Aussies' Savings Survey, 2024
Savings.com.au’s two cents
Australia’s home ownership landscape is changing, but the dream isn’t dead, just different.
The numbers show that home ownership has been remarkably stable for decades and owning a home is still achievable for many, but the path is getting steeper, especially for younger Aussies facing high prices, tighter borrowing capacity, and rising living costs.
Housing Costs Across Different Households
Australian housing comes at a cost. Typical housing costs include rent, mortgage repayments, council rates, and body corp fees, among others.
According to the latest SIH, the average weekly housing cost across all Australian households is $317.
Meanwhile, the average weekly housing costs by household tenure in 2019-20:
- Home owners with a mortgage - $493 (up 40% from 1999-00, adjusted for inflation)
- Home owners without a mortgage - $54 (up 50% from 1999-00, adjusted for inflation)
- Renters (private landlord) - $415 (up 50% from 1999-00, adjusted for inflation)
- Renters (housing authority) - $150 (down 3% from 1999-00, adjusted for inflation)
The average weekly housing costs in different states and territories:
- NSW: $356
- VIC: $319
- QLD: $300
- WA: $293
- SA: $251
- TAS: $218
- NT: $381
- ACT: $363
Housing Costs by Age Group
% of income on housing costs | Total | Baby boomers (1946 - 1964) | Gen X (1965 - 1980) | Millennials (1981 - 1996) | Gen Z (1997 - 2012) |
Less than 10% | 29.5% | 58.9% | 23.6% | 16.8% | 34.6% |
10% - 20% | 15.2% | 6.5% | 12.4% | 18.9% | 20.2% |
20% - 30% | 23.6% | 17.3% | 25.2% | 26.4% | 21.8% |
30% - 40% | 17.0% | 9.2% | 20.2% | 20.2% | 13.8% |
40% - 50% | 8.1% | 4.3% | 12.0% | 8.3% | 5.9% |
50% - 60% | 3.9% | 2.7% | 4.3% | 4.9% | 2.7% |
60% and over | 2.7% | 1.1% | 2.3% | 4.4% | 1.1% |
Source: InfoChoice State of Aussies' Savings Survey, 2024
Housing stress
A common definition for rental stress or mortgage stress is spending more than 30% of disposable income on housing – be it rent or home loan repayments. Per the latest InfoChoice survey, 31.7% of Aussies were in housing stress.
However, this definition is a bit simplistic – if you’re on $250,000 a year after tax, spending 40% of your income on home loan repayments probably isn’t much of an issue, whereas for lower income earners, 25% might be stretching things.
A better definition might simply be “how stressed do you feel” about housing. The survey asked respondents how worried they were about becoming homeless:
Total | Baby boomers (1946 - 1964) | Gen X (1965 - 1980) | Millennials (1981 - 1996) | Gen Z (1997 - 2012) | |
Not worried at all | 68.9% | 74.5% | 66.7% | 67.4% | 69.7% |
Slightly worried | 24.5% | 21.2% | 25.6% | 25.1% | 25.0% |
Very worried | 6.6% | 4.3% | 7.8% | 7.5% | 5.3% |
Data source: InfoChoice State of Aussies' Savings Survey, 2024
That’s 31.1% of the Australian public that are at least a little concerned about not having anywhere to live.
Investment Property Ownership in Australia
Per the InfoChoice survey, 18.3% of Australians own an investment property, providing a place to live for the approximately one-third of Aussies who rent.
As you might expect, those that owned their home mortgage-free were far more likely to own an investment property – at 35.1%, nearly twice the overall rate.
This was the full breakdown of investment property owners by residential status:
Own an investment property? | Total | Own my residence mortgage-free | Own my residence with a mortgage | Rent my residence by myself | Rent my residence with others | Live with family rent-free | Other |
Yes | 18.3% | 35.1% | 20.6% | 10.4% | 8.2% | 7.9% | 0.0% |
No | 81.7% | 64.9% | 79.4% | 89.6% | 91.8% | 92.1% | 100.0% |
Data source: InfoChoice State of Aussies' Savings Survey, 2024
Meanwhile, respondents in NSW and Tasmania were the most likely to own investment properties, while those in Queensland and the Northern Territory were the least. This was the full breakdown by state:
Total | NSW | VIC | QLD | WA | SA | TAS | ACT | NT | |
Yes | 18.3% | 24.9% | 17.1% | 10.7% | 17.2% | 19.5% | 22.9% | 16.2% | 12.5% |
No | 81.7% | 75.1% | 82.9% | 89.3% | 82.8% | 80.5% | 77.1% | 83.8% | 87.5% |
Data source: InfoChoice State of Aussies' Savings Survey, 2024