The Australian Bureau of Statistics has just released a good chunk of data from the last Census and I was wondering if there are others like me who are a sucker for a good stat?
http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au

If you are, and you enjoy traipsing through the figures to see what questions they raise, then may I invite you to join me in touting whatever interesting numbers catch your eye.

The first figure that struck me was the increase in the percentage of unoccupied private dwellings from 10.4% in 2006 to 10.7% last year. We keep getting told we continue to experience a severe housing shortage so what explains the increase?

The next was the figure of those claiming no religion up from 18.7% to 22.3%. Some might think it fits but I felt that high immigration from more religious parts of the world might have dampened the increase a little.

I was a little saddened to see a drop in those who did volunteer work for an organisation within the last 12 months had suffered a slight drop from 17.9% to 17.8% though I'm pleased to see in my shire it was over 22%.

How does your neck of the woods compare?

Sorry, the link for the 2011 data is here.

http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/Census

Well I have a bit of information on that housing statistic. In some areas of Brisbane a lot of housing has been bought by Asians, both as an investment, & for possible future use.

After a reasonably high number of them [something like 15%], had bad experiences with tenants, & agents, they realised our laws protect bad tenants not owners, they will never have another tenant. In that close community all new comers are warned off rental, before they buy.

Csteele, like you I enjoy stats, but I also find them a little frustrating because the numbers aren't necessarily a true reflection of the state of things. For instance, the unoccupied dwellings stat doesn't mean that there are that many dwellings with NO occupants all the time. Merely that at the point in time of collecting the data, for any number of reasons (travel overseas, hospital stays, renting while renovating,etc), that particular dwelling was unoccupied. Plus, Hasbeen's explanation.

I actually received two census forms at my house (wasted because I did it online anyway) - one to the front door and one at the back behind the garage because we have a studio space above our garage, though it is not a separate dwelling. You have to wonder how such interpretations actually skew the final figures.

It would be better (but probably impossible) to give actual parameters for the stats supplied, rather than just lumping them together.

One thing of interest though: In my state of Victoria, population apparently rose by over 8%, a figure which is at odds with the current state government's claim of only 4% under the previous long-term govt, which they've been quoting to justify their decision to cut public service jobs. The plot thickens, no?

Dear Scribbler and Hasbeen,

In my sister's street 6 of the 17 houses are now vacant as investor/owners are prepared to sit on them for capital gains earnings which become available at reduced tax rates after 12 months. Some have family members claiming it is their primary place of residence so as not to pay any tax at all. The clue? Mail being collected daily even after a year. A couple of these homes have had extensive renovations and the owners have weighed up wear and tear from renting against income earned and decided to keep them vacant.

In my opinion the main drivers here are negative gearing and low capital gains taxation rates which have had a dramatic impact on housing affordability for our younger generations. To take such a large number of our housing stock from the owner/occupier and rental markets has skyrocketed prices. That government policy should continue to have such a direct market distortion without any sign of a willingness to change it is to me a failure in governance.

Despite the increase in the notional wealth of Australians there has been an increase in those renting from 28.1% in 2006 to 29.6% in 2011 (interestingly in my shire the figure is under 9%). This is despite rents rising from an average $190 per week to $285, a 50% increase over 5 year when inflation would have been lucky to account for 20% of that.

I should mention a more direct link is available here;

http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/quickstats?opendocument&navpos=220

You can put in your shire or town or just the whole of Australia and get the stats for it.

Well this one I did not expect.

Making my way through the family data for the small to mid sized Victorian country town where I live it seems that despite what we hear in the media about our youth in general, and even given the young demographic we have here, there was not a single teenage mother in the area.