This variable records the rent paid for a dwelling on a weekly basis in ranges. It is applicable to the dwelling the household was counted in on Census Night. A private dwelling is defined in Dwelling structure (STRD) and can include caravans in caravan parks, occupied tents, and houseboats.
This data is output in standard Census products (QuickStats, Community profiles) in ranges.
Rent is also captured in individual dollar amounts in Rent (weekly) dollar values (RNTD).
Scope
Occupied private dwellings being rented
Categories
Code
Category
01
$1 - $74
02
$75 - $99
03
$100 - $124
04
$125 - $149
05
$150 - $174
06
$175 - $199
07
$200 - $224
08
$225 - $249
09
$250 - $274
10
$275 - $299
11
$300 - $324
12
$325 - $349
13
$350 - $374
14
$375 - $399
15
$400 - $424
16
$425 - $449
17
$450 - $474
18
$475 - $499
19
$500 - $524
20
$525 - $549
21
$550 - $649
22
$650 - $749
23
$750 - $849
24
$850 - $949
25
$950 and over
&&
Not stated
@@
Not applicable
Number of categories: 27
Not applicable (@@) category comprises:
Occupied private dwellings with Tenure type (TEND) of Owned outright, Owned with a mortgage, Being purchased under a rent/buy 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 output categories for the dollar ranges have been revised. Category 18 splits into four $25 intervals (categories 18-21), increasing the number of categories from 25 in 2016 to 27 in 2021. The applicability has changed so that now dwellings with the Tenure type of 'Occupied rent free' are included in the Not applicable category and the 01 category starts at $1.
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.
This variable is derived from Rent (weekly) dollar values (RNTD). The non-response rate for Rent (weekly) dollar values (RNTD) was 3.9% in 2021. This is an increase from 3.4% in 2016.
