Over the past decade, average housing costs for households with a mortgage increased by $120 per week or 42% (CPI adjusted), according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 


Between 1999-2000 and 2009-10, average weekly housing costs for private renters increased by $78 per week or 34% (CPI adjusted) and average weekly housing cost for owners without a mortgage increased by $5 per week or 17% (CPI adjusted).

 

Over the same period, the proportion of households that owned their home without a mortgage fell from 39% to 33%. The proportion of households with a mortgage increased from 32% to 36% and the proportion of private renter households increased from 20% to 24%.

 

In 2009-10, households with a mortgage had the highest housing costs, averaging $408 per week or 18% of their gross household income. Over the past decade the proportion of gross income that households with a mortgage spend on housing costs has been stable, at about 18%.

 

Private renters spent an average of $305 per week on rent payments in 2009–10, or 20% of their gross household income. The proportion that private renters spend on housing costs has also remained stable over the past decade, representing about 19% of gross income.

 

More information can be found in Housing Occupancy and Costs, Australia, 2009–10, available free from the ABS website.

 

The full report can be found here