This variable records the individual dollar amounts of rent paid by households on a weekly basis for the dwelling in which they were counted on Census Night. A private dwelling is defined in Dwelling structure (STRD) and can include caravans in caravan parks, occupied tents, and houseboats.
In standard Census products (Quickstats, Community profiles), ranges are used rather than individual dollar amounts. The ranges are listed in Rent (weekly) ranges (RNTRD).
Scope
Occupied private dwellings being rented
Categories
Code
Category
0001-9999
$1 to $9,999 singly
&&&&
Not stated
@@@@
Not applicable
Number of categories: 10,001
Not applicable (@@@@) category comprises:
Occupied private dwellings with Tenure type (TEND) of Owned outright, Owned with a mortgage, Being purchased under a shared equity scheme, Being occupied under a life tenure scheme, Occupied rent free, Other and Not stated
Unoccupied private dwellings
Non-private dwellings
Migratory, off-shore and shipping SA1s
Question(s) from the Census form
Is this dwelling: (please open this section to view response categories)
Image
Description
Is the dwelling at 1 Smith Street:
Include owners of caravans, manufactured homes or houseboats in ‘Owned with a mortgage’ or ‘Owned outright’ regardless of whether or not the site is owned.
A shared equity scheme is a government or not-for-profit scheme - assisting people on lower incomes to buy a home by sharing up to 30% of the ownership.
Life tenure schemes are a common arrangement in retirement villages. Include leaseholds, and loan and license agreements in ‘Occupied under a life tenure scheme’.
• Dwelling ownership
• Owned outright
• Owned with a mortgage
• Purchased under a shared equity scheme
• Rented
• Occupied rent free
• Occupied under a life tenure scheme
• Other
Example
Image
Description
Is the dwelling at 1 Smith Street:
Include owners of caravans, manufactured homes or houseboats in ‘Owned with a mortgage’ or ‘Owned outright’ regardless of whether or not the site is owned.
A shared equity scheme is a government or not-for-profit scheme - assisting people on lower incomes to buy a home by sharing up to 30% of the ownership.
Life tenure schemes are a common arrangement in retirement villages. Include leaseholds, and loan and license agreements in ‘Occupied under a life tenure scheme’.
Dwelling ownership
Owned outright (selected response)
Owned with a mortgage
Purchased under a shared equity scheme
Rented
Occupied rent free
Occupied under a life tenure scheme
Other
Rent arrangements
These questions do not apply, based on your answer to the previous question.
Example
Image
Description
Is the dwelling at 1 Smith Street:
Include owners of caravans, manufactured homes or houseboats in ‘Owned with a mortgage’ or ‘Owned outright’ regardless of whether or not the site is owned.
A shared equity scheme is a government or not-for-profit scheme - assisting people on lower incomes to buy a home by sharing up to 30% of the ownership.
Life tenure schemes are a common arrangement in retirement villages. Include leaseholds, and loan and license agreements in ‘Occupied under a life tenure scheme’.
Dwelling ownership
Owned outright
Owned with a mortgage
Purchased under a shared equity scheme
Rented
Occupied rent free (selected response)
Occupied under a life tenure scheme
Other
Example
Image
Description
Is the dwelling at 1 Smith Street:
Include owners of caravans, manufactured homes or houseboats in ‘Owned with a mortgage’ or ‘Owned outright’ regardless of whether or not the site is owned.
A shared equity scheme is a government or not-for-profit scheme - assisting people on lower incomes to buy a home by sharing up to 30% of the ownership.
Life tenure schemes are a common arrangement in retirement villages. Include leaseholds, and loan and license agreements in ‘Occupied under a life tenure scheme’.
Dwelling ownership
Owned outright
Owned with a mortgage
Purchased under a shared equity scheme
Rented (selected response)
Occupied rent free
Occupied under a life tenure scheme
Other
How much does your household pay for this dwelling?
Image
Description
How much does the household pay for 1 Smith Street?
Include rent and mortgage repayments and site fees if the dwelling is a caravan or manufactured home in a caravan park or manufactured home estate.
Exclude water rates, council rates, repairs, maintenance, body corporate and other fees.
If no payments, please select '$0 or Nil payments'.
More information
Total dwelling payments
$
.00 per week
OR
$
.00 per fortnight
OR
$
.00 per month
OR
$0 or Nil payments
More information
Image
Description
How much does the household pay for 1 Smith Street?
Include rent and mortgage repayments and site fees if the dwelling is a caravan or manufactured home in a caravan park or manufactured home estate.
Exclude water rates, council rates, repairs, maintenance, body corporate and other fees.
If no payments, please select '$0 or Nil payments'.
More information
If exact amount is not known, please provide your best estimate.
How this variable is created
This variable is derived from the Tenure type and Household payments questions on the Census form.
Household payments data is automatically captured from numeric text responses. If rental payment responses are reported as a fortnightly or monthly figure they are derived to a weekly figure. Responses to the tenure type question are used to determine whether payments are recorded as rent or mortgage repayments.
History and changes
Information on how much rent is paid for a private dwelling has been collected for all censuses since 1911.
Since the 1996 Census, the actual dollar amount paid for a dwelling has been collected rather than the range.
In 2021, the applicability has changed so that dwellings with the Tenure type of 'Occupied rent free' are included in the Not applicable category. Consequently $0 (category 0000) has been removed.
Data use considerations
The Census is the only source of rent data for small areas and for small groups of the population. Such data is important for housing policy and planning, and for studying the housing conditions of small populations.
Processing Rent (weekly) dollar values (RNTD) is subject to some recognition error for responses provided on paper Census forms, particularly when responses incorrectly include cents and the decimal point is missing or unclear. While the data is subject to data assurance checks to ensure an acceptable level of quality, numeric responses are accepted as reported by respondents on the form.
The non-response rate for Rent (weekly) dollar values (RNTD) was 3.9% in 2021. This is an increase from 3.4% in 2016.
