It is of no surprise that the profile of private rental tenants has changed dramatically over the past 30 years with an increasing number of families with children and older people renting for the long term.(AHURI) Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute at Swinbourne University of Technology is being used to inform government policy. The number of households in the private rental market doubled to 1.8 million over the past 30 years with the biggest growth in Queensland and the ACT,according to a bulletin based on research released in February.

Families with children represented more than 40% of renting households in 2011, a much higher proportion than in earlier decades, the bulletin noted. The number of group households has also risen,with more than one in ten private properties being rented by unrelated housemates in 2011,up from just over one in 25 in 1981 Traditionally single tenants and young families made up the largest proportion of renters.But renters to lone person households fell to one quarter in 2011 from just over 40% in 1981 Renting households are also getting older.More than half of renters were over the age of 35 years in 2011 compared with around 40% in 1981.

"While the age profile of households in the private rental housing remains young relative to all households,the median age of household heads is growing more rapidly than for households in general.This is likely to lead to the private sector being home to larger proportions of elderly households in the future" the bulletin noted. For your investors,the findings suggest properties that would suit families with children or appeal to older people will be the ones most in demand,perhaps increasingly so in the future.