Notes on the data: Housing/ Transport
Low income households with mortgage stress, 2016
Policy context: A family or individual is considered to be in mortgage stress if they are in a low-income bracket and pay more than 30% of their income on mortgage repayments. Acute mortgage stress occurs when 50% of income is spent on mortgage repayments. Increasing numbers of families are experiencing housing stress, and are at risk of homelessness [1].
Housing stress is increasing due to low investment in public housing, demographic shifts and increases in the number of households including through family breakdown; and a tendency for affluent people to want to live in the inner-city, which increases rents and forces low-income earners out of even relatively low-standard, un-renovated housing [2].
References
- Yates J, Gabriel M. Housing affordability in Australia. Sydney: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute; 2006.
- St Vincent de Paul Society (SVdPS). Don’t dream, it’s over: housing stress in Australia’s private rental market. Canberra: SVdPS; 2007.
Notes:
The data comprise households in the bottom 40% of income distribution (those with less than 80% of median equivalised income), spending more than 30% of income on mortgage repayments, as a proportion of mortgaged private dwellings.
Income is equivalised; equivalised household income per week can be viewed as an indicator of the economic resources available to a standardised household. For a lone person household it is equal to household income. For a household comprising more than one person, it is an indicator of the household income that would be needed by a lone person household to enjoy the same level of economic wellbeing.
Income varies by State/ Territory: NSW, $721; Vic, $705; Qld, $704; SA, $631; WA, $785; Tas, $589; NT, $1,004; ACT, $1,093.
The data exclude the population in the 10.3% of private dwellings for which mortgage stress data was not recorded (the proportion excluded was calculated based on the Australian data).
Note:
- For caveats regarding these data, please refer to the Housing Costs Caveats
- For additional information regarding equivalised income see: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2901.0Chapter31502016
Geography: Data available by Population Health Area, Local Government Area, Primary Health Network, Quintile of socioeconomic disadvantage of area and Remoteness Area
Numerator: Households in the bottom 40% of income distribution (those with less than 80% of median equivalised income), spending more than 30% of income on mortgage repayments
Denominator: Mortgaged private dwellings
Detail of analysis: Percent
Source: Compiled by PHIDU based on the ABS Census of Population and Housing, August 2016 (unpublished data).
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