Future generations of n children could be forced to grow up sharing a bedroom with a sibling because of the housing shortage, a property expert fears.
This would be occurring even though ‘s fertility rate has been below replacement level since 1976, where couples on average have two children.
The fertility rate for n women stood at just 1.7 in 2021.
Despite that, families with two children could end up growing up sharing a bedroom with their sibling, like in previous decades when families typically had more children.
Future generations of n children could be forced to grow up sharing a bedroom with a sibling because of the housing shortage (pictured is a stock image)
My Housing Market chief economist Andrew Wilson predicted children would no longer have a bedroom to themselves, like they have been used to because of the rental crisis.
‘I think the only easing, Michael, will be through social change,’ he told Metropole founder Michael Yardney in a video chat.
‘People’s choices for rental accommodation will change – they’ll stay at home longer; they’ll start combining family groups, they’ll start no longer having one bedroom per child.
‘These sort of choices will be made – that’s the only way that we’ll see vacancy rates start to ease because demand will still be there but will start to shift into other areas.’
had a rental vacancy rate of just 1.1 per cent in November after a record 518,100 overseas migrants moved in during the last financial year.
My Housing Market chief economist Andrew Wilson predicted children would no longer have a bedroom to themselves, like they have been used to because of the rental crisis (pictured is a Bondi rent queue)
International students make up the vast bulk of international arrivals, adding to competition for rental accommodation in Sydney and Melbourne in particular.
While ‘s border was closed during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021, social distancing rules saw fewer people living together.
Average household sizes shrank to 2.5 in the 2021 Census, the most recent, down from 2.6 in 2016.
But the rental crisis could end up reversing that, leading to more people on average living in n houses and units.