Housing in Victoria, Australia

Last updated
Housing typical of that found across much of Victoria. Bulleen-estate2.jpg
Housing typical of that found across much of Victoria.

Housing in the state of Victoria, Australia is characterised by high rates of private housing ownership, minimal and lack of public housing and high demand for, and largely unaffordable, rental housing. Outside of Melbourne, home to 70% of the state's population, housing and rent is more affordable. In Melbourne, access to public housing is generally better, but housing and rent are less affordable.

Contents

Public housing in Victoria is usually provided by departments of the Victorian state government and operates within the framework of the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement, by which funding for public housing is provided by both federal and state governments.

Since 2010, both Victoria and Melbourne have been experiencing a rapid increase in population, generating high demand for housing. This has created a housing boom, pushing housing prices up and having an effect on rental prices as well as availability of all types of housing.

Private housing

Private housing in Victoria is of a generally high quality, the majority of it being built post-war and late 20th century, however it suffers from a lack of access to public transport infrastructure and amenity, depending on its location. Many residents are forced into car ownership to enable access to amenities and services and to provide transport to and from work. Most of the infrastructural problems of private housing are also present in Victoria's rental housing. Public transport mode share in Melbourne is around a mere 10%, while many regional Victorian towns are lower.

In the late 2000s, private housing prices in Australia, relative to average incomes, were among the highest in the world, prompting speculation that the country was experiencing a real estate bubble similar to many other countries. [1]

As of February 2007, mortgage debt was equivalent to 80% of Australian GDP. [2] By 2009, it had risen to its highest levels of all time in Australian history, around triple the private debt during the Great Depression.

According to the 2016 Australian census, 32.3% of dwellings in Victoria are owned outright, 35.3% are owned using a mortgage, while 28.7 are rented. [3]

Rental housing

Rental housing in Victoria is currently in high demand under pressure from high population growth. As a result, rental housing can be difficult to obtain, particularly affordable rental housing. Prospective tenants often offer to pay more rent, several months rent up front and other incentives to landlords to secure housing. There is currently little or no rent control implemented in Victoria.

Public housing

A public housing high rise in Collingwood, Melbourne Housing Commission High Rise Collingwood.JPG
A public housing high rise in Collingwood, Melbourne

Public housing in Victoria is characterised by a general lack of availability and quality, many residents in public housing tend to be low income earners. Infrastructure for public housing is characterised by high-rise buildings built in Melbourne by the Housing Commission of Victoria in the 1960s, almost all of which are still in use today. More recent public housing projects have been of a low to low-medium density.

Access to public housing in Victoria can be difficult as many prospective residents must wait on a waiting lists until rooms and apartments become available. There is a general lack of investment in public housing, leading to a lack of availability and quality.

Similar to other states and territories in Australia, public housing in Victoria is considered to be stigmatised, and often perceived and "framed as places of danger, drugs and vice". [4] This stigma, amongst other factors, can result in people who live in public housing experiencing prejudice and vilification. [5]

History

Victoria's housing history is heavily characterised by the transportation methods in widespread use at the time of housing construction. Inner areas of Melbourne and some regional towns, developed during the late 19th century, enjoy good access to public transport, trains, trams, buses and cycling infrastructure. In contrast, suburban and outer areas of Melbourne and regional towns, developed during the 20th century, suffer from auto-centric urban forms with poor or no access to public transport.

This infrastructure has dictated many elements of housing in Victoria; from private housing prices, rent, general affordability, quality, gentrification and availability of housing, generally increasing where amenity and public transport is best served. Many affluent and gentrified areas have good access to amenity and public transport, while suburban and outer areas are generally cheaper and have poor or no access to good quality amenity and infrastructure.

Housing types

Victorian terrace housing, common in inner city areas of Melbourne and some regional towns Three storey terraces in drummond street carlton.jpg
Victorian terrace housing, common in inner city areas of Melbourne and some regional towns

Housing types in Victoria are dominated by single or double-storey detached suburban dwellings, most of which include living spaces such as a family/living room, dining room, etc., a garage, front and/or back yard and a driveway.

In inner Melbourne and some inner areas of regional towns, most housing types are of a low to low-medium density terrace style of varying sizes and levels depending on the historical affluence or lack thereof of the area.

In inner Melbourne and some other areas, high density housing is also present. Shoebox style blocks of flats constructed in the 1960s and 1970s are extremely common throughout the older, inner city suburbs of Melbourne. Many of these are in the Dingbat style. A majority of larger apartment buildings were constructed in Melbourne through the 1990s and 2000s.

Welfare and support

There are a few support and welfare systems available to those living in housing in Victoria, these include access to institutions such as Tenants Unions, government authorities such as the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal and welfare such as 'Rent Assistance' distributed through Centrelink.

Housing market

Since the 1980s the median house price in Victoria has been increasing by 7.9% annually. [6] The median unit/apartment price has been growing up by 7.73% yearly. [7]

Statistics

Statistics available, June 2004: [8]

Other statistics

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Apartment</span> Self-contained housing unit occupying part of a building

An apartment, flat, or unit, is a self-contained housing unit that occupies part of a building, generally on a single storey. There are many names for these overall buildings, see below. The housing tenure of apartments also varies considerably, from large-scale public housing, to owner occupancy within what is legally a condominium, to tenants renting from a private landlord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Docklands, Victoria</span> Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Docklands, also known as Melbourne Docklands, is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km (1.2 mi) west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Docklands recorded a population of 15,495 at the 2021 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norlane, Victoria</span> Suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia

Norlane is a northern suburb of Geelong, in Victoria, Australia. Norlane is bordered in the south by Cowies Creek, in the north by Cox Road, in the west by Thompson Road and in the east by Station Street. It is about 7 km from the Geelong central business district and approximately 70 km from the state capital, Melbourne. It is about one kilometre from the shore of Corio Bay. At the 2016 census, Norlane had a population of 8,306.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kensington, Victoria</span> Suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Kensington is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km (2.5 mi) north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. Kensington recorded a population of 10,745 at the 2021 census.

Subsidized housing is government sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for impoverished people with low to moderate incomes. In the United States, subsidized housing is often called "affordable housing". Forms of subsidies include direct housing subsidies, non-profit housing, public housing, rent supplements/vouchers, and some forms of co-operative and private sector housing. According to some sources, increasing access to housing may contribute to lower poverty rates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State housing</span>

State housing is a system of public housing in New Zealand, offering low-cost rental housing to residents on low to moderate incomes. Some 69,000 state houses are managed by Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities, most of which are owned by the Crown. In excess of 31,000 former state houses exist, which are now privately owned after large-scale sell-offs during recent decades. Since 2014, state housing has been part of a wider social housing system, which also includes privately owned low-cost housing.

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) was introduced by the government of the United Kingdom on 7 April 2008 to provide Housing Benefit entitlement for tenants renting private-sector accommodation in England, Scotland and Wales. The LHA system introduced significant changes to the way Housing Benefit (HB) levels are restricted and how benefit is paid. It did not replace Housing Benefit - it is just a different way of calculating entitlement under the existing Housing Benefit scheme: the Local Housing Allowance is based on the 30th percentile of local rented accommodation, while the 50th percentile or median was used from the introduction of the policy until 2011. LHA rates relate to the area in which the housing-benefit claim is made. These areas are called "Broad Rental Market Areas", defined as "where a person could reasonably be expected to live taking into account access to facilities and services", and a selection of rents in the area are used to determine the LHA for each category of housing in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Affordable housing</span> Housing affordable to those with a median household income

Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affordable housing refers to mortgages and a number of forms that exist along a continuum – from emergency homeless shelters, to transitional housing, to non-market rental, to formal and informal rental, indigenous housing, and ending with affordable home ownership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public housing in Australia</span> Government supported housing in Australia

Public housing in Australia is one part of social housing and the other is community housing. Public housing is provided by departments of state governments. Australian public housing operates within the framework of the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement, by which funding for public and community housing is provided by both federal and state governments. According to the 2006 census, Australia's public housing stock consisted of some 304,000 dwellings out of a total housing stock of more than 7.1 million dwellings, or 4.2% of all housing stock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Home ownership in Australia</span> Overview of home ownership in Australia

Home ownership in Australia is considered a key cultural icon, and part of the Australian tradition known as the Great Australian Dream of "owning a detached house on a fenced block of land." Home ownership has been seen as creating a responsible citizenry; according to a former Premier of Victoria: "The home owner feels that he has a stake in the country, and that he has something worth working for, living for, fighting for."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housing Commission of Victoria</span>

The Housing Commission of Victoria was a Government of Victoria body responsible for public housing in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1938, and was abolished in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian property market</span> Overview of Australian property market

The Australian property market comprises the trade of land and its permanent fixtures located within Australia. The average Australian property price grew 0.5% per year from 1890 to 1990 after inflation, however rose from 1990 to 2017 at a faster rate and may be showing signs of a contracting economic bubble. House prices in Australia receive considerable attention from the media and the Reserve Bank and some commentators have argued that there is an Australian property bubble.

The history of rent control in England and Wales is a part of English land law concerning the development of rent regulation in England and Wales. Controlling the prices that landlords could make their tenants pay formed the main element of rent regulation, and was in place from 1915 until its abolition by the Housing Act 1988.

Launch Housing is a secular Melbourne-based community organisation that delivers homelessness services and housing supports to disadvantaged Victorians.

Rent regulation is a system of laws, administered by a court or a public authority, which aims to ensure the affordability of housing and tenancies on the rental market for dwellings. Generally, a system of rent regulation involves:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housing Act 1988</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Housing Act 1988 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It governs the law between landlords and tenants. The Act introduced the concepts of assured tenancy and assured shorthold tenancy. It also facilitated the transfer of council housing to not-for-profit housing associations, which was then carried out partly through the system of Large Scale Voluntary Transfer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public housing in the United Kingdom</span> British government and local authority housing programmes

Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. Dwellings built for public or social housing use are built by or for local authorities and known as council houses. Since the 1980s non-profit housing associations became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became widely used, as technically council housing only refers to housing owned by a local authority, though the terms are largely used interchangeably.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Housing in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of housing in the United Kingdom

Housing in the United Kingdom represents the largest non-financial asset class in the UK; its overall net value passed the £5 trillion mark in 2014. About 30% of homes are owned outright by their occupants, and a further 40% are owner-occupied on a mortgage. About 18% are social housing of some kind, and the remaining 12% are privately rented.

Community housing in Australia is not-for-profit affordable housing provided by community housing organisations known as Community Housing Providers (CHPs). It is part of the social housing sector. CHPs have varying modes of operation and structure, and different types of stock. Any budget surplus in CHPs must be used to maintain existing housing, to provide better services for tenants or to help finance new properties. Although independent, the CHPs are regulated by the state, and commonly receive public funding. Most of their stock is owned by public housing authorities (SHAs) in each State, and the CHPs manage the tenancies using the rent received from tenants.

The Australian residential property market is the section of the Australian property market that provides rental properties by landlords to tenants. In Australia 31% of households rent their residences. The vast majority rent from private landlords, and a small minority rent from public housing authorities. Over the last three decades the proportion of Australians in public housing has halved, whilst the amount renting privately has grown. The average weekly price for a rental in Australia is $570 AUD per week. Sydney has the most expensive capital city rents. Rental rates have increased faster than inflation in recent years.

References

  1. Is There a Recession Brewing in Our Housing Bubble?
  2. "Debunking Economics". Archived from the original on 2012-06-22. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  3. "2016 Census QuickStats: Victoria". quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 2020-03-31.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. Sisson, Alistair; Chatterjee, Pratichi (7 August 2020). "Why public housing is stigmatised and how we can fix it". The Conversation . Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  5. "Public housing in Australia: stigma, home and opportunity". apo.org.au. 2 June 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
  6. "Housing Prices in Australia: 1970 to 2003" (PDF). econ.mq.edu.au. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  7. "Median House Prices - By Type and Sale Year". data.melbourne.vic.gov.au. 25 February 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  8. Tenants Union Victoria, Victorian Housing & Tenancy Facts & Figures, January 2006

http://www.tuv.org.au/articles/files/housing_statistics/housing_and_tenancy_statistics_Victoria_052010.pdf