Affordable homes (home buyers)

The proportion of homes sold that are affordable to moderate income households is determined based on the following assumptions:

· Low and moderate income households are those with equivalised disposable household incomes (EDHI) in the bottom three quintiles, calculated on a state-by-state basis, and separately for capital city and balance of state.
· The indicator is calculated for those at the top of the moderate income range, i.e. at the top of third quintile, in each of the state by capital city/balance of state regions.
· Gross household income for those households at the top of the third quintile is measured as the median gross household income for all households in the EDHI percentile range 59-61.
· Homes are assessed to be affordable when the household spends no more than 30% of their gross income on mortgage payments (including both interest and capital repayments).
· Mortgage payments are calculated using: the standard monthly variable interest rate series published by the Reserve Bank of Australia, averaged over the year; assumed 10% deposit on the full purchase price; and repayments over a 25 year loan contract.

The number of affordable homes is expressed as the rate of homes which are affordable per 1,000 low or moderate income households.

Assault

Assault is comprised of physical assault and threatened assault (definitions below).

Biodiversity

The variety of all life forms on earth – the different plants, animals and micro-organisms, the genes they contain and the ecosystems which they form part of.

Break-in

An incident where the respondent's home (primary residence) was broken into. Includes break-ins to garage, shed or any detached secure building such as games/hobby room etc. Caravans were only included if it was the respondent's permanent residence. Break-in incidents relating to a respondent's car or front or rear yard were excluded.

Carbon dioxide equivalents

Provides the basis for comparing the warming effect of different greenhouse gases. Different greenhouse gases have different effects and remain in the atmosphere for different periods of time. A tonne of methane, for example, contributes as much to global warming as 21 tonnes of carbon dioxide and thus has a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 21, compared to carbon dioxide's GWP of 1. Each gas has a GWP so that each can be converted to a common carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂-e). This enables emissions of different greenhouse gases to be compared and aggregated by converting them to carbon dioxide equivalents (CO₂-e).

Climate Change

A change in the weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average (for example, greater or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole earth. In recent usage, climate change usually refers to changes in modern climate, and is often referred to as global warming.

Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA)

For the housing section, Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) has been excluded from the housing costs and gross income of recipients. CRA is a non-taxable income supplement paid through Centrelink to individuals and families who rent in the private rental market. It is only paid to recipients of another government benefit or pension, and is paid in conjunction with that other benefit. In this section, CRA payments have been modelled based on Centrelink eligibility requirements. Characteristics collected in the Survey of Income and Housing, such as the family and household composition, ages, type of government payments received, current weekly income from government allowances, rental payments and the tenure and landlord details, are used to calculate the eligibility and amount of CRA for each income unit within the survey sample.

Conservation Status

The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999 (Cwlth) classifies listed threatened species (fauna or flora) into six categories: extinct; extinct in the wild; critically endangered; endangered; vulnerable; and conservation dependent. The Act also classifies listed threatened communities into three categories: critically endangered; endangered; and vulnerable.

Disposable income

Gross income less income tax and the Medicare levy, i.e. remaining income after direct taxes are deducted, which is available to support consumption and/or saving. Income tax and the Medicare levy are imputed based on each person's income and other characteristics as reported in the survey. Disposable income is sometimes referred to as net income

Employed

All persons aged 15 years and over who, during the reference week:

· worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind in a job or business, or on a farm (comprising employees, employers and own account workers); or
· worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (i.e. contributing family workers); or
· were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
· away from work for fewer than four weeks up to the end of the reference week; or
· away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week; or
· away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement; or
· on strike or locked out; or
· on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job; or
· were employers or own account workers, who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Endangered

Strong evidence that a species faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future.

Equivalised income

Measures of household income (including the headline indicator) and wealth are adjusted or equivalised to take account of differing household size and composition. The equivalised measure factors in the sharing of income between household members and takes into account the economies of scale that arise from the sharing of dwellings, whilst also recognising that larger households need greater income levels to maintain the same standard of living as smaller households. The equivalence factor used gives a weighting of 1.0 to the first (or only) adult, a weight of 0.5 for each additional adult aged 15 years and over, and a weight of 0.3 for each child aged under 15. The equivalised income or wealth of lone person households is the same as the unequivalised value. For households comprising multiple people, the equivalised value is less than the total unequivalised value but greater than the per person share of the unequivalised value.

Estimated resident population (ERP)

The official measure of the population of Australia is based on the concept of usual residence. It refers to all people, regardless of nationality, citizenship or legal status, who usually live in Australia, with the exception of foreign diplomatic personnel and their families. It includes usual residents who are overseas for less than 12 months. It excludes overseas visitors who are in Australia for less than 12 months.

Extinct

There is no reasonable doubt that the last member of a species has died.

Fauna

The animals of a given region or period, taken collectively (as distinguished from the plants or flora).

Final consumption expenditure

Final consumption expenditure is expenditure on goods and services that are used for the direct satisfaction of individual or collective needs or wants. It excludes expenditure on fixed assets (including dwellings), valuables and other non-financial assets. In the ASNA it is defined as the total value of all expenditures on individual and collective consumption goods and services incurred by resident households, resident NPISHs and general government units.

Financial assets

Financial assets are mostly financial claims. Financial claims entitle the owner to receive a payment, or a series of payments, from an institutional unit to which the owner has provided funds. Shares are treated as financial assets even though the financial claim their holders have on the corporation is not a fixed or predetermined monetary amount.

Greenhouse gases

A collective term for those gases which reduce the loss of heat from the earth's atmosphere and thus contribute to global warming and climate change. Examples of greenhouse gases are water vapour, carbon dioxide, atmospheric methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).

Gross domestic product (GDP)

The total market value of goods and services produced in Australia within a given period after deducting the cost of goods and services used up in the process of production but before deducting allowances for the consumption of fixed capital. Thus gross domestic product, as here defined, is 'at market prices'. It is equivalent to gross national expenditure plus exports of goods and services less imports of goods and services.

Gross national expenditure

The total expenditure within a given period by Australian residents on final goods and services (i.e. before allowances for capital goods and services used up during the period in the process of production). It is equivalent to gross domestic product plus imports of goods and services less exports of goods and services.

Higher education qualification

A qualification generally offered by a university or other higher education institution, comprising Postgraduate Degree, Master Degree, Graduate Diploma, Graduate Certificate and Bachelor Degree.

Household sector

Households and unincorporated enterprises are included in the one sector because the owners of ordinary partnerships and sole proprietorships frequently combine their business and personal transactions. Non-profit institutions serving households (NPISHs) comprise all resident non-market NPIs that are not controlled and not mainly financed by government. Such NPIs provide goods and services to households free or at prices that are not economically significant.

Labour force

For any group, persons who were employed or unemployed, as defined.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy refers to the average number of additional years a person of a given age and sex might expect to live if the age-specific death rates of the given period continued throughout his/her lifetime.

Low income group

Refers to the 20% of people in the second and third lowest income deciles after being ranked from lowest to highest, by their equivalised disposable household income

Low income renters

For the housing section, low income renter households are defined as households with equivalised disposable household income (excluding CRA) at or below the 40th percentile, calculated for capital city and balance of state, on a state-by-state basis. See also 'Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA)'.

Low income rental affordability

Housing costs as a proportion of gross household income for low income renters

Malicious property damage

Intentional or wilful (not accidental) damage, defacement or destruction of any part of the respondent's home or anything usually kept at his or her home. The questions on malicious property damage relate to the respondent's home and any property belonging to the respondent or a member of his or her household, excluding any rental, investment or holiday properties that he or she owns. Property is something tangible in nature including land, conveyances, animals or other objects capable of being privately owned. Destruction can mean any alteration that may render something imperfect or inoperative. It can include destruction of property, graffiti or vandalism, partial destruction, killing or harming an owned animal, and removing or destroying a plant or other part of an owned landscape. Excludes turning off water meters and flicking safety switches etc. if no damage to the meter occurred.

Multifactor productivity

Multifactor productivity (MFP) statistics aim to measure technical progress or the efficiency of production. MFP can be equated with technical progress if certain conditions are met (e.g. firms seek to maximise profits, markets are competitive, and the coverage of inputs is complete). In practice, MFP measures that part of output growth that cannot be attributed to the growth in measured inputs. As such, MFP is influenced by more than just technical progress. Other influences include the reallocation of inputs, variations in the utilisation of inputs, natural events, and measurement error.

Natural increase

Excess of births over deaths.

Net overseas migration (NOM)

Net overseas migration is the net gain or loss of population through immigration to Australia and emigration from Australia. It is:

· based on an international traveller's duration of stay being in or out of Australia for 12 months or more;
· the difference between:

· the number of incoming travellers who stay in Australia for 12 months or more, who are not currently counted in the population, and are then added to the population (NOM arrivals); and
· the number of outgoing travellers (Australian residents and long-term visitors to Australia) who leave Australia for 12 months or more, who are currently counted within the population, and are then subtracted from the population (NOM departures).

Under the current method for estimating final net overseas migration this term is based on a traveller's actual duration of stay or absence using the '12/16 month rule'. Preliminary NOM estimates are modelled on patterns of traveller behaviours observed in final NOM estimates for the same period one year earlier (for more information refer to ABS Australian Demographic Statistics, cat. no. 3101.0 or ABS Migration, Australia, cat. no. 3412.0).

Estimates for September quarter 2006 onwards use an improved methodology; caution should be exercised when comparing estimates over time.

Non-financial assets

Non-financial assets are assets for which no corresponding liabilities are recorded.

Non-produced assets

Non-produced assets are non-financial assets that come into existence other than through processes of production. They consist of Natural resources (such as land, subsoil assets, native standing timber and radio spectra); Contracts, leases and licenses; and Purchased goodwill and marketing assets. Purchased goodwill and marketing assets are not included in the ASNA.

Non-produced assets that occur in nature where ownership rights cannot be enforced, such as international waters or air space, are excluded.

People with a vocational or higher education qualification

Proportion of people with either a vocational or higher education qualification (includes those whose level could not be determined).

In 2001, the ABSCQ was replaced by the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) cat. no. 1272.0. The ASCED is a national standard classification, which can be applied to all sectors of the Australian education system.

Population growth

The sum of natural increase and net overseas migration.

Produced assets

Produced assets are non-financial assets that have come into existence as outputs from production processes. Produced assets consist of fixed assets and inventories and valuables. However, valuables are not included in the ASNA.

Physical assault

An incident where anyone used physical force or violence against a respondent. Physical force or violence includes being: pushed, grabbed, shoved, slapped, hit with an open hand or fist, kicked or bitten. It also includes being hit with something else that could hurt a respondent i.e. a bat, hammer, belt, pot, ruler, etc. It includes being beaten, choked, stabbed, shot, burnt, dragged or hit deliberately by a vehicle. Includes assault in a respondent's line of work. It excludes incidents that occurred during the course of play on a sporting field, verbal abuse, and incidents of sexual assault or threatened sexual assault which also involved physical assault.

Real

Real incomes payable and receivable are calculated by dividing the nominal (current) income flows by the implicit price deflator for gross national expenditure.

Real gross domestic income

Real gross domestic income measures the purchasing power of the total incomes generated by domestic production.

Calculated by:
· taking the volume measure of gross national expenditure (GNE);
· adding exports of goods and services at current prices deflated by the implicit price deflator for imports of goods and services;
· deducting the volume measure of imports of goods and services;
· adding the current price statistical discrepancy for GDP(E) deflated by the implicit price deflator for GDP.

In the derivation of the aggregate all of the adjustments are made using the chain volume aggregation method used to derive all of the ABS chain volume estimates.

See 'Gross national expenditure (GNE)' and 'Real net national disposable income (RNNDI)'.

Robbery

An incident where someone stole (or tried to steal) property from a respondent by physically attacking them or threatening him or her with force or violence. Includes incidents of physical assault and threatened assault which also involved robbery or attempted robbery.

Self-assessed health status

A person's general assessment of their own health against a five point scale from excellent through to poor.

Sexual assault

Sexual assault is an act of a sexual nature carried out against a person’s will, through the use of physical force, intimidation or coercion, or the attempt to carry out these acts. Only people aged 18 years and over were asked questions about sexual assault.

Threatened assault

Includes any verbal and/or physical intent or suggestion of intent to inflict physical harm, which the person believed was able and likely to be carried out. Includes a threat or attempt to hit with a fist or anything else that could hurt, threats or attempts to slap, punch, spank or hit in any way with a fist or weapon such as a bat, hammer or pot, situations where a gun was left in an obvious place or if the person knew that the perpetrator had access to a gun. Includes toy guns, starter pistols etc. if the respondent believed they were real. Also includes incidents where a respondent was threatened in their line of work (e.g. while working as a security guard).
Includes both face-to-face and non face-to-face threatened assault.

Total fertility rate (TFR)

The sum of age-specific fertility rates (live births at each age of mother per female population of that age). It represents the number of children a female would bear during her lifetime if she experienced current age-specific fertility rates at each age of her reproductive life (ages 15-49).


Underemployed workers

Employed persons aged 15 years and over who want, and are available for, more hours of work than they currently have. They comprise:

· persons employed part time who want to work more hours and are available to start work with more hours, either in the reference week or in the four weeks subsequent to the survey; or
· persons employed full time who worked part time hours in the reference week for economic reasons (such as being stood down or insufficient work being available). It is assumed that these people wanted to work full time in the reference week and would have been available to do so.

Unemployed

Persons aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week, and
had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in the four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week; or
were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

Unemployment rate

The number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force.

Victim

A household or person reporting at least one of the crimes surveyed. Victims were counted once only for each type of crime, regardless of the number of incidents of that type.

Victimisation rate

The total number of victims of a given crime in a given population (who have been a victim of the crime at least once in the reference period) expressed as a percentage of that population.

Vocational education qualification

A qualification offered by an educational institution that generally provides people with occupational or work-related knowledge and skills, comprising Advanced Diploma, Diploma and Certificates I to IV (and certificate not further defined).

Vulnerable

Strong evidence that a species faces a high risk of extinction in the medium term.