The Demography of Houses

Abstract

The idea of a ‘demography of houses’ is a metaphor deriving from demographic analysis of human populations. Human demography describes and analyses the characteristics of individuals and households within a population (Hugo 1986). Demography can thus be distinguished from sociological analysis, which looks more at the interaction between people, organisations and institutions. This chapter examines the ‘population’ of Australian housing in terms of the physical characteristics of the growing and changing stock of dwellings.

Post-war Australia witnessed a massive expansion in the nation’s housing stock. More than four million housing units have been added to Australia’s dwelling inventory … Put another way, seven out of ten dwelling units in the current housing stock were built since 1945; nearly 36 per cent of new homes were constructed since 1970. (Housing Industry Association 1990: 41)