Ghost of census past: The number haunting millions of Aussies

Australia’s vacant homes stats were cause for much debate last Census. A single Census answer exposed an infuriating paradox under Australian roofs – one analysts hope five years of housing crisis will finally have changed. Beneath routine questions asking how many bedrooms are in your home, who slept under your roof last night and who is listed as temporarily absent lies a clear contradiction – extreme housing pressure clashing with a vast amount of under-utilised residential space. RELATED: One sad Census question that will break Aus Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to receive a very real scorecard on how the nation has changed. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman. When Aussies last filled out Census forms in 2021, Australian Bureau of Statistics data recorded 1,043,776 unoccupied private dwellings – roughly 10 per cent of all Australian homes, with analysts poring over a multitude of reasons why. Beyond those empty houses, analysis by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute exposed a structural gap where 77 per cent of private homes – roughly 7.4 million households – had at least one spare bedroom sitting vacant. That totalled more than 13 million unused bedrooms...