THE LIMITS OF HOUSING POLICY - HOME OWNERSHIP IN AUSTRALIA

This paper provides an overview of the history of owner occupation rat es and policies in Australia, starting from the first Commonwealth cen sus in 1911 and continuing to the most recent in 1991, with particular emphasis on the recent past. The ownership rate grew by only a fete p ercentage points between the 1911 and 1947 censuses, but then increase d rapidly from 53 per cent in 1947 to 70 per cent in 1961. However, in spite of extensive promotion of home ownership by the Commonwealth an d state governments, ownership rates in Australia have been more or le ss stable ever since. In a re-interpretation of Australia's experience with owner occupation, we argue that economic and demographic circums tances are much more important than previous policy-oriented accounts have allowed.