Separate houses, and dwellings unoccupied on Census night
Separate houses make up 91% of occupied homes in the Southern Downs council area, against 75% across QLD. Flats or apartments are 1% (12% statewide) and townhouses, terraces or semi-detached houses 6% (also 12% statewide), both below Queensland. These figures suggest a larger share of standalone houses across the council area than across the state.
On Census night, 14% of private dwellings in the Southern Downs council area were unoccupied, above 9% across QLD. Bedroom counts differ from the state's in both directions: 42% of homes have three bedrooms (37% across QLD, above), 35% have four or more (39%, below) and 21% have two bedrooms or fewer (22%, below).
Outright owners and lower costs in the Southern Downs
In the Southern Downs council area, 42% of households own their home outright, above 29% across QLD. Paying off a mortgage accounts for 28% of households (34% across QLD) and renting for 25% (33% across QLD), both below the state. Of the renting households, 58% rent from a landlord the ABS records as a real estate agent, below 66% across Queensland.
Costs and incomes both come in below Queensland. Median rent is $255 a week against $365, the median mortgage repayment $1,300 a month against $1,733, and median household income $1,108 a week against $1,675. Worked out on this page from two medians, the median weekly rent equals 23% of the median weekly income of all households in the council area, renters or not, which is above 22% across QLD.
At the same address as in 2016, in the Southern Downs
A single question at the 2021 Census asked each person aged five and over where they had lived in 2016. In the Southern Downs council area, 56% of people aged five and over were at the same address five years earlier, above 48% across QLD. That suggests a larger share of people aged five and over across the council area at the same address in 2021 as in 2016 than across QLD.
The median age in the council area is 48 years, above the Queensland median of 38, which suggests an older population. An average household holds 2.3 people, compared with 2.5 across QLD, below the state. Altogether, 36,290 people lived in the Southern Downs council area at the 2021 Census, the population these ages and household sizes describe.