The average tenant is changing

It is of no surprise that the profile of private rental tenants has changed dramatically over the past 30 years with an increasing number of families with children and older people renting for the long term.  The  (AHURI) Australian

Housing and Urban Research Institute at Swinbourne University of Technology is being used to inform government policy. Investors may find this information useful when deciding what type of investment property to buy or renovate.  The number of households in the private rental market doubled to 1.8 million over the past 30 years with the biggest growth in Queensland and the ACT, according to a bulletin based on research released in February. Families with children represented more than 40% of renting households in 2011, a much higher proportion than in earlier decades, the bulletin noted.

Renting households are also getting older. More than half of renters were over the age of 35 years in 2011 compared with around 40% in 1981.

“While the age profile of households in the private rental housing remains young relative to all households, the median age of household heads is growing more rapidly than for households in general. This is likely to lead to the private sector being home to larger proportions of elderly households in the future” the bulletin noted.

For investors, the findings suggest properties that would suit families with children or appeal to older people will be the ones most in demand, perhaps increasingly so in the future. One should always consider property investment for long term gain and not as a short term speculative strategy.

Article courtesy of Zoe Fielding and Swinbourne University