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Matthew Sullivan
The housing undersupply issue currently plaguing the nation has gone from bad to worse, as new figures reveal home ownership rates have fallen below global trends.
According to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Australia's home ownership rates are at odds with international trends.
Homeownership levels in Australia dropped from 71.4 per cent to 69.5 per cent – while Canada had the largest increase with home ownership rates climbing from 61.3 per cent to 68.9 per cent.
The Urban Taskforce’s chief executive Aaron Gadiel said the OECD's findings highlights the social costs of Australia’s severe housing undersupply.
“Australia is grouped with Greece, Mexico, France and Luxembourg as countries where an increased share of the population can’t access a home of their own," Mr Gadiel said.
“There’s no doubt that the underlying problem is Australia’s national housing undersupply of 200,000 homes.”
But while Australia remains above international averages for home ownership rates, the country would have recorded a further 1 per cent decline had it not been for the ageing population, Mr Gadiel said.
“Older Australians are more likely to own their own home, so our changing demographics have propped up the headline home ownerships rate, disguising significant falls in home ownership amongst young and middle aged Australians.”
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