Public housing statistics in Australia: stock, waitlists and long-term trends

The national public housing waitlist reached 189,536 households at 30 June 2025, up 12.5% in a single year and the highest level in the comparable series since 2014. At the same time, Australia’s public housing stock has fallen from 343,301 dwellings in 2005 to 296,541 in 2025, a decline of 13.6% over two decades.

Of those households, 77,425 are classified as greatest need: meaning they are homeless, their safety is at risk, or their housing is seriously affecting their health. In 2024–25, 16,016 households were newly allocated to public housing, making the waitlist almost 12 times larger than annual allocations.

Public housing tenants pay rent calculated as a share of their gross household income rather than at market rates. In 2024–25, 93.4% of public housing households paid below-market rent, with the remainder in market-rate or other arrangements.

The shift toward community housing management reflects changes in how social housing is funded and managed. Tenants in community housing can receive Commonwealth Rent Assistance, which increases the income available to providers. Stock transfers and targeted funding programmes have contributed to the growth of community housing capacity.

Several large transfers account for some of the largest falls in public housing stock. South Australia moved 3,820 dwellings to community housing in 2017–18, contributing to that state’s fall from around 37,000 to 33,000 dwellings. Tasmania transferred approximately 2,000 dwellings in 2021–22, reducing its public housing count from 7,031 to around 5,000. These dwellings remained in the broader social housing system if they continued to be used for social housing.

How has public housing declined over time?

Australia’s public housing stock has declined in absolute terms since at least 2005, falling from 343,301 dwellings to 297,684 at June 2024, then to 296,541 at June 2025.

The decline has not been steady. Between 2005 and 2018, the stock fell gradually. The steepest single-year drop came between June 2018 and June 2019, when national public housing fell by 11,040 dwellings. This was driven by New South Wales, which transferred approximately 10,700 properties to community housing providers under its Future Directions for Social Housing policy.

Since 2019, the pace of decline has slowed. Between 2019 and 2025, the national stock fell by 8,650 dwellings, or 2.8%. Some states added to their public housing portfolios over this period, including Queensland, which grew by about 1,900 dwellings, and Western Australia, which grew by around 1,035.

Tasmania recorded the largest percentage fall of any state. Its public housing stock fell from 7,166 dwellings in 2016 to 5,051 in 2025, a decline of 29.5%. The biggest single drop came in 2021–22, when Tasmania transferred 2,027 properties to community housing providers, equal to around 28% of its stock at the time.

South Australia reduced its portfolio from 37,852 dwellings in 2016 to 31,611 in 2025, a fall of 16.5%, partly through property sales and transfers. Victoria, by contrast, held its stock almost steady over this period.

That 5,115 figure is likely an undercount. Many transfers, including the 10,700-dwelling NSW transfer in 2018–19 under the Future Directions policy, were structured as management arrangements rather than ownership changes and so do not appear in formal transfer records.

The distinction matters: a management transfer moves a property out of the public housing count even if the state still legally owns it. The property operates as community housing from a service perspective, but the state may still carry the asset and some ongoing maintenance obligations on its books.

The waitlist fell to 140,578 at June 2018, then began to climb. The rise through 2019–2022 coincided with the COVID-19 period. After a brief easing in 2023 and 2024, the waitlist rose again in 2025, with most states recording higher numbers.

The waitlist measures registered applicants only; it does not capture all unmet housing need. Households in rental stress who have not applied, or who have been assessed as ineligible, are not included. Broader estimates of unmet need are higher than the official waitlist count.

Underutilisation, at 16.5%, is the more common issue. Many of these dwellings are occupied by long-term tenants whose households have become smaller over time, for example after children have grown up and moved out. Several states offer voluntary incentives for downsizing, but take-up has been limited, partly because suitable smaller properties are not always available nearby.

Overcrowding, while a smaller share at 4.3%, is concentrated in specific groups. Indigenous households in public housing have an overcrowding rate of 9.9%, more than double the rate for non-Indigenous public housing households. Rates are higher in remote and outer regional areas.

The ACT has the highest share of directly government-managed social housing, with 86.3% of ACT social housing still run as public housing. Tasmania and the Northern Territory have the lowest shares, reflecting Tasmania’s large-scale transfers and the significant community and Indigenous community housing presence in the NT. Victoria had the lowest social housing share of any state at 3.0%, partly because its larger population spreads its social housing stock across more households.

Public housing occupancy, vacancies, and turnaround times

The occupancy rate shows what share of total public housing stock is under an active tenancy at 30 June each year. Nationally, this has held steady over the past decade, ranging from 96.2 to 97.6%. At the 2024–25 rate of 96.7%, 286,755 dwellings were actively occupied.

Occupancy rates vary by state. Queensland recorded the highest rate (98.1% in 2024–25). The Northern Territory recorded the lowest rate, at 93.9%, which may reflect the difficulty of maintaining and allocating properties in remote areas.

Victoria's rate fell from 98.1% in 2016 to 95.1% in 2025, with a dip to 93.7% in 2023. That dip reflects the period when the Victorian government began vacating properties ahead of demolition under the Big Housing Build programme, with properties cleared for demolition remaining in the total stock count but registering as unoccupied.

Public housing turnaround times by state

Turnaround time is the average number of days a property sits vacant between one tenant leaving and the next moving in. Shorter turnarounds mean homes return to use faster for households on the waitlist.

There are large differences between states. NSW averaged 28.4 days and Queensland 33.3 days. Western Australia averaged 93 days, down from 163 days in 2022–23. The Northern Territory averaged 140 days: on average, a vacant property there sat untenanted for nearly five months. Given the NT's high housing need, this represents a loss of effective supply. South Australia does not report this figure.

Dwelling suitability: overcrowding and underutilisation

Nationally, 4.3% of public housing households (12,308) were in overcrowded homes, while 16.5% (47,134) were in homes larger than needed. At the state level, rates vary. South Australia has the highest underutilisation rate at 25%, likely reflecting an older tenant population in stock originally built for families. The Northern Territory has the highest overcrowding rate at 9.2%, consistent with larger household sizes in remote communities.

State and territory waitlists compared

New South Wales and Victoria each had more than 50,000 households on the waitlist at June 2025, together accounting for 61% of the national total. Queensland's waitlist rose 28.1% in one year to 24,112 households. South Australia was the only state where the waitlist fell.

Queensland’s 99.6% greatest need classification reflects that state’s eligibility rules, where only households with immediate priority need can register. This is a definitional difference, not a sign that Queensland’s housing stress is uniquely severe. New South Wales had the lowest greatest need proportion at 16.8%, partly because some applicant data used in greatest-need classification was not collected in the same way as in other jurisdictions.

Western Australia and the ACT had high per-person expenditure relative to their public housing stock size. The Northern Territory's high per-capita cost is likely influenced by the complexity and expense of delivering housing in remote communities, including higher construction costs, limited infrastructure and specialist maintenance requirements.

Total public housing expenditure in 2024–25 of $7.9 billion translates to $26,804 per dwelling for that year when including both net recurrent and capital components. This figure varies by state and year. Because capital expenditure in a single year may include multi-year project completions or acquisitions, single-year per-dwelling figures should be treated as approximate.