First home owners - Australia

Census of Population and Housing: Reflecting Australia - Stories from the Census, 2016  

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INTRODUCTION

More Australians than ever are taking up apartment living, whether out of preference, convenience, or for other reasons. The 2016 Census of Population and Housing found that 10% (2,348,434) of all people in Australia spent Census night in an apartment. There is now around one occupied apartment for every five occupied separate houses in Australia - compared with one to every seven, back in 1991. The growth in apartment living is primarily an urban phenomenon, concentrated within Australia's major capital cities.

NUMBER OF OCCUPIED APARTMENTS

Over the past 25 years, the number of occupied apartments (including flats and units, excluding townhouses) in Australia has increased by 78% to 1,214,372 dwellings at the 2016 Census. There has been a steady increase in the number of apartments since 1991, although the Census shows slowing growth in the last five years. Most notably, the number of occupied apartments increased by 20% between 1991 and 1996, then by almost 17% between 2001 and 2006.

COMPARISON WITH OCCUPIED HOUSES

While the number of occupied apartments has increased over the last 25 years, the number of occupied separate houses has also continued to grow (from 4,533,595 in 1991 to 6,343,419 in 2016). There is now around one occupied apartment for every five occupied houses in Australia - compared with one for every seven in 1991.

(Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics)