Home ownership improving in WA

WHILE Australians are becoming a nation of renters and landlords as home ownership levels have dropped, the situation is better in WA.

Almost a third of Australians rented their home in 2017-2018, up five percentage points from 20 years ago, Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows.

However in WA the number of renters is at similar levels – 27.7 per cent in 1997-1998 to 27.8 per cent in 2017-2018.

The number of renters peaked at 30.2 per cent in 2011-2012 and has been declining since then.

Home ownership in WA has also been improving and is better than the national figure.

According to the ABS, 69.8 per cent of West Australians own their own home outright or are paying off a mortgage, compared to 66.2 per cent Australia-wide.

This has been increasing since 2011-12 when it dropped to 67.0 per cent.

Nationally renters spent more of their income on housing than home owners with a mortgage, putting just over 20 per cent of their income towards housing costs compared to 15.9 per cent, according to the figures.

In WA there was less difference, with renters spending 17.1 per cent compared to 16.5 per cent for home owners.

Over the past 20 years the proportion of public housing tenants decreased from six per cent to three per cent.

“Some of the decrease in public housing numbers can be attributed to recent trends in social housing provision which have seen the community housing sector taking on an increasingly prominent role,” ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said on Wednesday.

While home ownership has fallen Australia-wide, one-in-five households owned one or more residential properties other than their main home, the data showed. The majority of those had just one additional household (71.1 per cent) but 4.6 per cent owned four or more.