Tenure type (TEND)

This variable describes whether a dwelling is owned, being purchased or rented.

The tenure category 'Being purchased under a shared equity scheme' refers to households who are purchasing less than 100% equity in the dwelling, and may or may not be paying rent for the remainder. 

‘Occupied under a life tenure scheme' refers to households or individuals who have a 'life tenure' contract to live in the dwelling but usually have little or no equity in the dwelling. This is a common arrangement in retirement villages.

Occupied private dwellings

This variable is derived from responses to the Tenure type question on the Census form which asks if the dwelling is owned, being purchased or being rented.

Respondents are asked to only mark one response. Where a respondent provides more than one response, the responses are accepted in the order they appear on the form and the extra responses are rejected.

The question relating to Tenure type (TEND) was first asked for the 1911 Census. From 1976 to 1991, nature of occupancy data was derived from mortgage and rent questions. For all other censuses a direct question on nature of occupancy was included.

Since 2006, the question on tenure type has changed to remain consistent with the current ABS statistical standard for tenure type. It captures the difference between owners with and without a mortgage. Prior to this it differentiated whether a dwelling was owned outright or being purchased.

For 2021, minor changes were made to category labels.

There are no known data use considerations at this time.

The non-response rate for Tenure type (TEND) was 5.4% in 2021. This is a decrease from 7.7% in 2016. 

• Landlord type (LLDD)
• Derivation
• Dwelling
• Household
• Imputation

• Housing
• Housing: Census