Insights into why people move

The ABS recently released the results of their Housing and Mobility Conditions Survey and some of the findings are imperative for property investors to take on board to keep their tenant turnover low.

Mobility
The survey found that 19% of respondents surveyed had lived in the same property for more than 20 years with 37.3% having lived in the same property for 10 or more years. Victorian’s were the most likely to have lived in their property for more than 20 years followed by ACT residents. Residents of the Northern Territory and Queensland tended to have shorter tenures with only 24.8% of Territorians and 28.6% of Queenslanders having lived at their current address for 10 years or more.

The survey also found that approximately 43.4% of Australians surveyed had moved house during the last five year. Those most mobile were located in the Northern Territory (58.8%) and Queensland (51.3%). The least mobile were found in the ACT (38.9%) and Victoria (39.3%).

Main reason for moving
The survey found that people were most likely to move house due to: purchasing their own dwelling (16.5%), because they want a bigger or better home (16.1%) or for lifestyle/other reasons (14.1%). Conversely, persons were least likely to move due to: allocated housing reasons (1.7%), accessibility reasons (2.3%) or because they are looking to downsize (2.8%). Reasons such as breakdown of marriages (11.2%) and employment reasons also heavily contributed to people moving home.

Satisfaction
Generally those people surveyed were quite happy with their current residence. Across owner occupiers 91% were either very satisfied or satisfied, whilst renters recorded 78.3% satisfaction.

In relation to dwelling location owners were generally dissatisfied with the distance from services and facilities (40.1%) or noise level (28.2%). Across renters, dissatisfaction was greatest due to noise level (43.1%) or security (42.7%).

Looking at dissatisfaction with lots, the greatest reason for displeasure was that it was too small (40.0%) followed by too steep (26.1%). When analysing all reasons for dissatisfaction, the dominant reasons were reported as: poor condition of dwelling (51.7%) and that the dwelling was too small (41.6%). Conversely, people rarely reported that dwellings were too big (3.7%).

Conclusion
Overall the results of this survey provides some important insight into the mind of the home owner and renter. Residents are quite mobile and do not appear opposed to moving home however, it would appear when they find the right property they are just as happy to stay there for many years.

People are likely to move because they buy their own home (moving out of rentals), they want a bigger property (upgrading) or due to migration to Australia, back to Australia or to another state (increasing demand). This would seem to suggest that many residents still aspire to a bigger and better property than the one they currently own and most renters still look to eventually own their own home. What it also highlights is that demand remains strong.

When people are dissatisfied with their residence they are generally unhappy because: it’s too noisy, it’s not safe enough, it’s too far away from quality amenity, the lot is too small, the dwelling is too small or the property is in poor condition.

The results of the survey show that as an investor, if you wish to keep tenants happy there are a number of things you can do to help the cause. Primarily you should: maintain the property and keep it in good working order, include devices such as air conditioners and/or heating, make sure the property is secure with good quality grills and locks and look to buy properties close to quality infrastructure but not so close so they become noise affected.

For more details on the properties we have available, contact a property advisor on (07) 3624 1900 or email us directly. You can be assured that the real estate developments selected offer you the best possible returns for your dollar.