Who Lives In Real Estate Agent Managed Rental Homes?

The REIV publishes useful Census findings that may be of interest to Members and the public. This study attempts to profile the general socio-demographic characteristics of tenants of properties managed by a real estate agent and those that were not.  For the purposes of this assessment, the REIV has excluded tenants that are in public or community housing as they do not form part of the wider, private rental market.

In 2011, there were over 449,400 households in the private rental market in Victoria. Around 71 per cent of these households were renting a property managed by a real estate agent. The share of these rental properties managed by a real estate agent is higher in metropolitan areas (77 per cent) in comparison to regional areas (61 per cent).

Regional Victoria

There were over 103,000 private rental households in regional Victoria in 2011 of which 61 per cent were managed by a real estate agent. There were a number of differences between the tenants of properties managed by a real estate agent and those that were not. The key differences in the regional Victorian rental households were:

1. Larger household size in properties managed by a real estate agent averaging around 2.4 persons per household compared to 2.3 persons per households in non-real estate agent managed properties;
2. Younger tenants, 65 per cent aged under 35 years in real estate agent managed properties compared to 57 per cent of nonreal estate agent managed properties;
3. Higher incomes, 43 per cent of tenants in real estate agent managed properties earning over $1,000 per week compared to 38 per cent of non-real estate agent managed properties;
4. More likely to be single with 52 per cent of tenants in real estate managed properties never having married compared to 46 per cent of non-real estate agent managed properties;
5. Higher share of one parent families comprising 21 per cent of real estate agent managed households compared to 16 per cent of non-real estate agent managed properties;
6.. Higher vehicle ownership, 82 per cent of tenants in a realestate managed property owning one to two cars compared to 78 per cent of tenants in non-real estate agent managed properties;
7. Higher density, 19 per cent of tenants in real estate agent managed properties living in a flat, unit, or apartment compared to 9 per cent of those in non-real estate agent managed properties.

Source:  REIV