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LEARN MORE ABOUT .idIn Greater Melbourne, 64% of households were purchasing or fully owned their home, 26.8% were renting privately, and 2.3% were in social housing in 2021.
Greater Melbourne's Housing Tenure data provides insights into its socio-economic status as well as the role it plays in the housing market. For example, a high concentration of private renters may indicate a transient area attractive to young singles and couples, while a concentration of home owners indicates a more settled area with mature families and empty-nesters (Household Summary). Tenure can also reflect built form (Dwelling Type), with a significantly higher share of renters in high density housing and a substantially larger proportion of home-owners in separate houses, although this is not always the case.
In conjunction with other socio-economic status indicators in Greater Melbourne, Tenure data is useful for analysing housing markets, housing affordability and identifying public housing areas.
Further reading: How can Councils influence affordable housing.
Q:
Derived from the Census questions:
'Is this dwelling (owned outright, owned with a mortgage etc.)', and 'If this dwelling is being rented, who is it rented from?'
| Housing tenure | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Melbourne - Households (Enumerated) | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||
| Tenure type | Number | % | Canberra % | Number | % | Canberra % | 2016 to 2021 |
| Fully owned | 533,516 | 28.7 | 25.8 | 482,953 | 29.0 | 25.8 | +50,563 |
| Mortgage | 662,506 | 35.6 | 38.9 | 570,250 | 34.3 | 36.6 | +92,256 |
| Renting - Total | 543,254 | 29.2 | 30.0 | 467,005 | 28.1 | 30.1 | +76,249 |
| Renting - Social housing | 42,263 | 2.3 | 5.5 | 42,592 | 2.6 | 6.2 | -329 |
| Renting - Private | 498,472 | 26.8 | 24.4 | 421,798 | 25.3 | 23.8 | +76,674 |
| Renting - Not stated | 2,519 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2,615 | 0.2 | 0.1 | -96 |
| Other tenure type | 30,062 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 25,395 | 1.5 | 1.3 | +4,667 |
| Not stated | 89,469 | 4.8 | 3.7 | 118,937 | 7.1 | 6.2 | -29,468 |
| Total households | 1,858,807 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 1,664,540 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +194,267 |
Dominant groups
Analysis of the housing tenure of households of Greater Melbourne in 2021 compared to Canberra shows that there was a larger proportion of households who owned their dwelling; a smaller proportion purchasing their dwelling; and a smaller proportion who were renters.
Overall, 28.7% of households owned their dwelling; 35.6% were purchasing, and 29.2% were renting, compared with 25.8%, 38.9% and 30.0% respectively for Canberra.
Emerging groups
The largest changes in housing tenure categories for the households in Greater Melbourne between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Mortgage (+92,256 households)
- Renting - Private (+76,674 households)
- Fully owned (+50,563 households)
- Other tenure type (+4,667 households)
The total number of households in Greater Melbourne increased by 194,267 between 2016 and 2021.
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