Australian Centre for Housing Research

The Australian housing system is rapidly evolving. Renting is now the fastest growing tenure in Australia, with more than one third of Australians now renting their homes. Housing quality and conditions are also highly variable, with issues such as cold, mould, and damp contributing to poor health outcomes for many Australians. 2024 Survey collected data from another 20,049 households across all states and territories, making it the biggest national survey collecting information about the quality and conditions of Australian homes. The 2024 dataset is the most recent release in the series and is now available to users through the Australian Data Archive.

Access the 2024 dataset.

Learn more about the project.

The Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA+) is the leading Australian indicator of remoteness and has become the standard for classifying the accessibility and remoteness of locations across the country. ARIA+ is used in government and policy, research, and academia, and is used in the development of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Remoteness Areas, Australia’s official classification of national remoteness. ARIA+ is available to purchase through the Australian Centre for Housing Research. The product can be purchased by state/territory, or for the whole of Australia.

Learn more about ARIA+

For more information about ARIA+, email achr@adelaide.edu.au

Greater Adelaide’s housing market is experiencing significant pressures, driven by a combination of rising prices, demographic shifts, and evolving household needs. The task of planning for South Australia’s future housing system is made more difficult by how little is currently known about the rapidly evolving preferences of present and future residents. This project is investigating the factors Adelaide residents value when making housing decisions, how these preferences vary across demographic groups, and what trade-offs people are willing to make when confronted with affordability constraints. This research is being undertaken for the SA Department for Housing and Urban Development.

TEDI has been developed by Adelaide University for the Victorian Environment Protection Authority (EPA). It will be used to measure the impact that environmental events and pollution have on communities. The TEDI survey will help the EPA understand how to better protect community wellbeing.

Read the review about mental health effects of environmental exposures.

This project uses the idea of the Minskyian household to reframe class analysis around how households, rather than individuals, experience and reproduce financial instability in asset-driven economies. By moving the Minskyian household from metaphor to measurable category, this project re-centres class analysis on household balance sheets, provides a transparent and replicable set of indicators, and delivers comparative evidence for the UK and Australia. This research is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

By assessing national and jurisdictional datasets on Indigenous households, housing providers and the workforce, the project evaluates data quality, coverage and cultural relevance. The project provides clear recommendations to improve data collection, access and linkage, ensuring future datasets capture housing conditions, experiences, aspirations and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This project is supported by funding from the NIAA under the Indigenous Advancement Strategy.

Read the review.

Australia is considered by many to be a warm climate country, and yet there is increasing evidence that Australian homes are colder than many 'cold' countries. Living in a cold home can increase risk of high blood pressure, breathing difficulties, and mental health issues, especially for occupants who are aged or already affected by medical conditions. Our researchers measured winter indoor temperatures in 505 Australian homes, finding that 81% of sampled homes were below the World Health Organisation’s Housing and Health guideline for minimum indoor temperature (18°C). This project challenges our understanding of the prevalence of cold housing in Australia context and has important implications for housing policy.

Access the dataset.

Read the publication.

Housing impacts our lives in a multitude of ways, including our health, social and family lives, education, employment, and financial wellbeing. Currently, we don't have a lot of information about the nature of children's housing in Australia, or the role it plays in their health. Working with the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, this unsolicited data project seeks to address this gap by investigating existing evidence and data, and by developing a framework for comprehensive data collection and study of children and their homes.

Understanding Children's housing in Australia: a data framework

This project addresses one of the most pressing challenges facing Australia today – the housing crisis. As we navigate the 21st century as a post-homeownership nation, this research will use international, quantitative, and qualitative analyses to deliver new insights and produce a roadmap that will support Australia in providing current and future generations with good housing outcomes – with or without home ownership. This research is funded by the Australian Research Council’s Discovery scheme in partnership with several universities.