A growing number of children are being raised in private rental housing and facing greater housing insecurity, according to a new report that warns of possible long-term effects on their development, physical health and mental wellbeing. The study, by four researchers at Adelaide University, was released by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and drew on long-running datasets tracking households over time.
The analysis found that as housing prices climbed between 2001 and 2023, the proportion of households with children living in homes owned outright fell by 52 percent, while those in social rentals dropped 46 percent as public housing stagnated. Over the same period, the share of children in households with a mortgage rose 27 percent, and those in private rentals increased 20 percent.
Housing stability varied sharply by tenure. The research lead, associate professor Amy Clair, said children in private rentals moved every 2.3 years on average, adding up to about six moves by age 14. By comparison, those in owner-occupied homes had moved a little over twice, and children in social housing just over four times. Around one in eight children in private rentals had lived in 10 or more homes by 14, against roughly one in 40 of those in a mortgaged home.
Few families were renting by choice. Only 7 percent said they preferred it and 8 percent valued its flexibility, while more than half said they had no deposit saved and about half said they could not afford to buy. Children in rentals were also more likely to face financial stress or poor conditions, with about 18 percent of such households late on a housing payment, compared with roughly 7 percent of those with a mortgage, and higher rates of overcrowding.
Dr Clair said children’s experiences were often overlooked in debates about housing affordability, partly because of limited data on their circumstances. She pointed to a growing body of evidence linking housing to children’s health, behaviour and educational outcomes, and argued that fragmented information created blind spots that hindered early intervention. The report suggested that health, education and primary-care services could routinely record indicators such as affordability stress, overcrowding and dwelling problems to help target support.
