Spare rooms so less homes built: Commsec

Alistair WalshDecember 7, 2020

Commsec says housing already has spare capacity meaning Australia will no longer be building as many houses.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows 78% of households have at least one spare bedroom while 18% of those who own their homes outright have three or more spare bedrooms.

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“The latest data confirms recent trends showing that there is plenty of spare capacity in our existing homes, even though we have been utilising some of this extra capacity in the past five years. The latest figures have clear implications for the housing industry,” Craig James writes in Commsec’s latest economic insight report says.

“If Australians are keen to utilise their homes more efficiently then construction will be constrained in coming years.”

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The ABS found the average number of bedrooms per dwelling was unchanged at a record high of 3.11 in 2011/12. In 1994/95 there were 2.88 bedrooms per home.

And the average number of people in a home was steady at 2.57.

At the same time construction work done fell by 0.3% in real terms in the June quarter, after falling by 1.9% in the March quarter and easing 0.2% in December 2012 quarter.

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Alistair Walsh

Deutsche Welle online reporter

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