Review of 2021 Census Topics - Australian Bureau of Statistics

Response 174710414

What is your submission about?

Please provide a brief summary of your submission

Include a question regarding property title in the Census.

Choose your area of interest

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Population

Sex and gender

Households and families

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

Income and work

Unpaid work and care

Education and training

Disability and carers

Housing

Location

Transport

Cultural diversity

Religion

Topics on Housing

Choose one or more of the following topics that relates to your submission

Please select all that apply

Type of tenure (nature of occupancy)

Structure and types of dwellings

Homelessness

Housing costs

Number of bedrooms

Internet access

Other/unknown

Assessment Criteria 1

1. This topic is of current national importance.

Land titles data collected individually from land titles offices around the country by myself and academic colleagues indicates that there are over 300,000 strata and community title developments in Australia containing approximately 2.5 million units. The insured value of these properties (according to estimates based on data provided to academic researchers by large strata insurance companies) is approximately $539 billion. These properties are owned under a shared ownership model which has important implications for policy development and planning. Yet because it is not possible to link data about these properties to the people who live in them, the essential information needed for such policy development is absent. This data is also essential for research purposes.

Assessment Criteria 2

2. There is a need for data from a Census of the whole population.

It is important to connect data about the ownership of property under strata and community title to data about the people who live in those properties. This is because these properties are owned collectively and raise important concerns for policy development that are too often overlooked in the Australian context due to an absence of such information. This will be made possible by including a question in the census asking about land title.

Assessment Criteria 3

3. The topic can be accurately collected in a form which the household completes themselves.

This data is already successfully collected in national surveys of other countries. For example the Canadian Housing Survey includes the question:
Is this dwelling part of a condominium development? Yes/No

An Australian equivalent would be:
Is this dwelling part of a strata or community title development? Yes/no

Assessment Criteria 4

4. The topic would be acceptable to Census respondents.

This topic is unlikely to cause any offence and respondents should be able to accurately respond.

Assessment Criteria 5

5. The topic can be collected efficiently.

The proposed question is clear and requires a simple yes/no answer.

Assessment Criteria 6

6. There is likely to be a continuing need for data on this topic in the following Census.

2015 was the first year in Australia's history that there were more dwelling starts for attached properties than for detached properties. The vast majority of these attached properties are strata and community title properties. The trend towards strata living is increasing exponentially as more and more apartments and attached townhouses are built around the country.

Assessment Criteria 7

7. There are no other alternative data sources or solutions that could meet the topic need.

As identified earlier, it is possible to collect data from each state and territory land titles office about the numbers of strata and community title properties. However, this data is not recorded in a standardised manner between states and requires extensive data cleaning which is both time consuming and expensive for academic researchers. More importantly, it is not currently possible to link this data to data about the residents of these properties.