Housing suitability

Housing and home

Housing suitability

Having a house or place that is suitable to your needs is a key determinant of wellbeing.

Housing suitability index

This measure shows the proportion of Canberrans who report having high, moderate or low housing suitability. Housing suitability looks at whether people feel that their home:

Inadequate housing can impact our wellbeing. Exposure to hot and cold weather and structural issues such as damp and mould, can all have negative impacts on our physical health.

Canberrans have reported a decline in their housing suitability in recent years. In 2019, 73.3% reported high housing suitability. In 2024, high suitability dropped to 64.4%.

9.5% reported low housing suitability in 2024.

The University of Canberra 2024 Living Well in the ACT Region survey found that people more likely to report high housing suitability include those:

Those more likely to report low housing suitability include:

Data for this indicator are sourced from the University of Canberra Living well in the ACT Region survey. Detailed survey data, survey user guide and published reports from the survey can be accessed at https://www.regionalwellbeing.org.au/living-well-in-the-act-region/.

Line graph of percentage of respondents who report high, moderate or low housing suitability in the ACT, between 2019 and 2024.

In 2024:

  • 64.4% reported high housing suitability compared to 66.8% in 2023
  • 26.1% reported moderate housing suitability compared to 24.0% in 2023
  • 9.5% reported low housing suitability compared to 9.2% in 2023.

The Living Well in the ACT Region survey, conducted by the University of Canberra, aims to measure, track and understand the wellbeing and resilience of adult residents living in the Australian Capital Territory region of Australia. It examines factors known to affect wellbeing and resilience at the individual, household, community and regional level.

When generating data for the ACT, statistical weighting is used to address differences between the sample of people who respond to the survey, and the characteristics of the ACT adult population.

Data are produced from this survey for different groups of people in the ACT. The ‘overall response’ category represents responses at the ACT population level. Where reliable estimates can be produced, data are also presented for Canberrans by: gender, age, cultural background, gender identity and sexuality, carer role and experience of disability. Not all differences over time or between groups are statistically significant: information on confidence intervals for the data presented here is available in data tables that can be accessed at https://www.regionalwellbeing.org.au/living-well-in-the-act-region/.

Care is needed when interpreting the differences in findings between groups as the descriptive statistics published here show where there are differences in wellbeing, but not what has caused those differences in wellbeing.

Further information about the survey can be found at Living Well in the ACT Region or by contacting regionalwellbeing@canberra.edu.au.

Overcrowding

This measure shows the proportion of people living in appropriately sized homes that are not overcrowded.

Living in an overcrowded environment can lead to increased stress and insecurity. Overcrowding has negative impacts on health, safety and education.

Homes are considered overcrowded when they do not have enough bedrooms to adequately house the people in the home.

In 2021, the most recent available Census data, most people in Canberra lived in homes that were not overcrowded (94.6%). Canberrans were also slightly more likely to be in appropriately sized homes than other Australians (93.9% nationally).

As of February 2026, there was no new Census data available for this measure; however, complementary data sources suggest that these trends remain relatively consistent. In 2024, the University of Canberra’s Living Well in the ACT Region survey asked people whether they thought their home was big enough for all residents to live in easily. Most Canberrans did not have an overcrowding problem, with 17.6% of respondents saying their current home was too small to live in easily, a slight increase from 2023 when 16.5% said their home was too small for all current residents to live in easily.

The Canberrans most likely to report that overcrowding was an issue in 2024 (37.9%) were those who were unemployed.

ACT Government analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Census of Population and Housing: Estimating Homelessness (customised data reports).

Line graph of percentage of people living in appropriately sized homes in the ACT, in 5-year intervals from 2011 to 2021. In 2020, 94.6% lived in appropriately sized homes compared to 95.7% in 2016.

The ABS uses the term 'dwelling' instead of 'home' in the Census of Population and Housing Estimates. A dwelling is defined as a structure which is intended to have people live in it, and which is habitable on census night. Some examples of dwellings are houses, motels, flats, caravans, prisons, tents, humpies and houseboats.