Rental Tenants Survey

NAME OF ORGANISATION
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

OVERVIEW

The collection examines the demographic and financial characteristics of people living in rental dwellings in Australia, and provides an indication of their housing history and the characteristics of the dwellings they occupy. It provides an insight into the rental dwelling market and the stock of rental housing.

PURPOSE

The Rental Tenants survey was conducted in response to demands for better information in order to provide an understanding of public and private renters and the dwellings they occupy. The data was intended to enable governments to develop equitable housing policies aimed at assisting those most disadvantaged in the housing market.

SCOPE

Scope

Geographical areas

The survey covered both rural and urban areas in all States and Territories.

Dwellings

The survey covered persons in private dwellings only. Private dwellings are houses, flats, home units, garages, tents and any other structures used as private places of residence at the time of the survey. People in caravan parks were also included in the survey. Persons in special dwellings such as hotels, boarding houses, construction camps etc. were excluded.

Persons

The survey did not cover the following people:

• certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments customarily excluded from census and estimated populations;
• overseas residents in Australia;
• members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia;
• members of the permanent defence forces;
• boarding school students;
• people in institutions such as hospitals, sanatoria, and inmates of jails, reformatories etc.; and
• visitors to private dwellings.

Jervis Bay Territory was also excluded from the scope of this survey.

After these people were excluded, the number of people in scope for the survey was estimated at 13,464,844.

Coverage

Coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence has only one chance of selection. The chance of a person being enumerated at two dwellings in the one survey is considered to be negligible.

Persons who are away from their usual residence for six weeks or less at the time of interview are enumerated at their usual residence.

DATA DETAIL

Conceptual framework

Characteristics of persons living in rented or leased dwellings and characteristics of the rental dwellings. Also included are data on the costs of renting, affordability, demand for public housing, as well as tenants' rental history.

Renters in Australia, April 1994 (ABS Cat.No. 4138.0)

The publication (4138.0) provides data on characteristics of persons living in rented or leased dwellings and characteristics of the rental dwellings. Also included are data on the costs of renting, affordability, demand for public housing, as well as tenants' rental history. Data were collected from the supplement to the ABS Monthly Population Survey in April 1994. Information is available for Australia, States and Territories, and capital cities.

Classifications

The main classifications used in the publication (household type, tenure type, age of reference person, dwelling structure, income, main source of income, labour force status and State).

Other concepts (summary)

GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
Australia
New South Wales
Victoria
Queensland
South Australia
Western Australia
Tasmania
Northern Territory
ACT

Comments and/or Other Regions

Jervis Bay Territory was excluded from the scope of this survey.

COLLECTION FREQUENCY
Once Only

Frequency comments

COLLECTION HISTORY

April 1994

DATA AVAILABILITY
Yes

Data availability comments