With the relationship between housing affordability and avocado toast a topic du jour an increased trend to renting was noted in the census data. Cairns appears to have gone the other way albeit remains relatively high based on the proportion of renters.

This is broader SA4 regional data and while Townsville has moved ahead of Cairns on this measure the Cairns urban area would still remain ahead on proportion of renters after our larger regional population is removed.

This is consistent with RTA bond data where Townsville Council LGA has moved from a few thousand less total rental bonds lodged than Cairns Council LGA to about equal over the period. However I’m too lazy to do this comparison for the available census data as it involves adjustment for the Douglas de-amalgamation. Also not sure what impact defence housing in Townsville has on their rental numbers?

Cairns appears to have moved against a trend though on this. Even the more central high renting 4870 postcode nudged down by 0.4 percentage points of renters over the period.

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