The equivalent Tuesday of this week in August two years ago was the 2016 census. Among questions that linger is whether there were really 30.1% of private dwellings in Palm Cove unoccupied on census night?

This isn’t too far above locations like the City and Port Douglas at 26.4% and 25%. It is also almost unchanged from 2011 census at 31.0%. Adjacent Clifton Beach is 15.9%. Typically around 10%-11% of private dwellings are unoccupied in Australia on census night.

Private dwellings does not include commercial tourism accommodation where at this time of year occupancy would be expected to be above these numbers anyway. Perhaps a clue is in the data quality statement:

In some cases, it can be difficult to determine whether dwellings are private (PDs) or non-private (NPDs). For example, blocks of self contained apartments or units may provide a mix of short term hotel-style accommodation (i.e. an NPD) or long term apartment (normally PDs) accommodation.

It just seems like a very high number to me particularly for the seasonal high time of year.

Note: these numbers are for smaller state suburb areas.

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