--- title: "21330 – Housing Policy (Affordable, Social)" url: https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/21330-housing-policy-affordable-social/ date: 2026-01-16 modified: 2026-10-01 lang: en author: "" description: "APN Codex Node 21330 21300 Series — Legislation & Policy Analysis Certified Housing Policy (Affordable, Social) Current Z−1.2971σ Period30 June 2025 Position9.7 indicative CadenceAnnual Baseline N14 1Node Definition Housing Policy..." word_count: 1319 --- # 21330 – Housing Policy (Affordable, Social) - APN Codex Node 21330 21300 Series — Legislation & Policy Analysis Certified ### Housing Policy (Affordable, Social) Current Z−1.2971σ Period30 June 2025 Position9.7 indicative CadenceAnnual Baseline N14 1Node Definition Housing Policy (Affordable, Social) (21330) reads social housing as a share of Australia’s dwelling stock, once a year at 30 June. It asks whether the stock of social housing is keeping pace with the growth of housing overall. A falling share means social housing is growing more slowly than the dwelling stock as a whole, whether or not the number of social dwellings is itself rising. **What it counts.** Social housing here is every dwelling in the national social housing programs: public housing, state owned and managed Indigenous housing, community housing and Indigenous community housing. The comparison is with every residential dwelling in Australia, occupied or not. **What it does not measure.** It is a measure of the standing stock, not of new construction. The share of new dwellings built for government ownership is read quarterly by Government-Owned Dwelling Delivery (21381). Nor is it a measure of affordability or of demand for social housing. 2Metric Definition **Primary metric: social housing stock share, Z-Score** Share and Z-Score Construction DtSocial housing dwellings, all programs, at 30 June: 451,799 in 2025 RtAll residential dwellings, June quarter: 11,357,500 in 2025 StSocial housing stock share: 3.9780% in 2025 μS, σSMean 4.2894% and standard deviation 0.2401 percentage points of the share, 2012–2025, N 14 **Metric typology:** single-input annual Z-score. A share is used rather than a count, so the reading follows the balance between social housing and the dwelling stock rather than the size of either. 3Data Sources and the Record | Source | Reference | Measure | | ------ | --------- | ------- | | Australian Institute of Health and Welfare | Housing assistance in Australia, Table DWELLINGS.1, All programs | Social housing dwellings at 30 June | | Australian Bureau of Statistics | Total Value of Dwellings, Table 1 (A83728645A) | Number of residential dwellings, June quarter | The record runs from 2012 to 2025. It begins in 2012 because the dwelling count is first published for the September quarter 2011, so 2011 has no June-quarter figure. | At 30 June | Social housing dwellings | All dwellings (’000) | Share % | Z-Score | | ---------- | ------------------------ | -------------------------- | ------- | ------- | | 2012 | 426,488 | 9,097.6 | 4.6879 | +1.6595 | | 2013 | 428,030 | 9,226.9 | 4.6389 | +1.4556 | | 2014 | 427,580 | 9,366.8 | 4.5648 | +1.1470 | | 2015 | 427,774 | 9,562.1 | 4.4736 | +0.7672 | | 2016 | 432,846 | 9,774.5 | 4.4283 | +0.5784 | | 2017 | 435,661 | 9,974.8 | 4.3676 | +0.3256 | | 2018 | 436,213 | 10,161.4 | 4.2928 | +0.0142 | | 2019 | 437,718 | 10,350.2 | 4.2291 | −0.2513 | | 2020 | 436,333 | 10,518.3 | 4.1483 | −0.5877 | | 2021 | 440,192 | 10,720.7 | 4.1060 | −0.7639 | | 2022 | 442,752 | 10,886.3 | 4.0671 | −0.9261 | | 2023 | 445,622 | 11,041.2 | 4.0360 | −1.0555 | | 2024 | 451,754 | 11,200.1 | 4.0335 | −1.0659 | | 2025 | 451,799 | 11,357.5 | 3.9780 | −1.2971 | Node 21330 · The Record Social Housing as a Share of All Dwellings, at 30 June, 2012–2025 The gold line is the share in each year, from 4.6879% in 2012 to 3.9780% in 2025. The grey dashed line marks the 2012–2025 mean of 4.2894%, the level at which the reading is 0σ. The share is lower than in the year before in every one of the thirteen years shown. 4Analytical Interpretation At **−1.2971σ** (30 June 2025), social housing is 3.9780% of all dwellings, the lowest share in the record. Between 2012 and 2025 the social housing stock grew by 25,311 dwellings, or 5.93%, from 426,488 to 451,799. The dwelling stock as a whole grew by 2,259,900, or 24.84%, from 9,097,600 to 11,357,500. The share has therefore fallen while the number of social dwellings has risen: social housing has grown at about a quarter of the rate of the dwelling stock. The decline has been continuous. The share is lower than in the previous year in all thirteen year-on-year steps. The smallest fall was in 2024, from 4.0360% to 4.0335%, the year the social housing stock rose by 6,132 dwellings, its largest annual increase in the record. In 2025 it rose by 45, and the share fell by 0.0555 percentage points. **Position.** 9.7, indicative. Indicative position, empirical ranking begins at 20 observations (currently 14) With fourteen annual observations, the record is too short to rank the reading against its own history. The position is therefore read from the Z-score, as the share of a normal distribution lying below −1.2971σ. It is published in the same form as an empirical percentile and will become one when the record reaches twenty observations. Reading a trend on its own baseline Because the share has fallen every year, any year standardised against the full record sits further below the mean than the year before it, and the latest year sits at the lowest point. The Z-score here describes the length and steadiness of the decline, not a sudden change in 2025. Node 21330 · PositionCertified Z-Score, 30 June 2025−3σ0σ+3σThe marker shows the node’s certified Z-score, −1.2971σ at 30 June 2025, on a scale from −3σ to +3σ. The dashed centre line marks 0σ, the 2012–2025 mean. The marker is a position on the Z-score scale, not a percentile. 5Methodology & Disclosed Caveats **A change of measure, September 2026.** Readings of this node published before September 2026 were a quarterly index of social housing against occupied private dwellings, with the dwelling count estimated between Census years. The node now reads the annual share set out above, built entirely from published figures. The two are not comparable, and the difference between them is one of measure, not of conditions. - **A short record.** The baseline holds fourteen annual observations, fewer than the platform’s standard minimum for estimating a mean and standard deviation. The Z-score is correct for the record as it stands and will settle as the record lengthens. - **A trend, read at its end.** The share has fallen every year, so the latest year is always the lowest. See Section 4. - **All dwellings, occupied or not.** The comparison is with every residential dwelling, including those unoccupied on the day. A count of occupied dwellings alone is available only in Census years. - **Annual, at 30 June.** Social housing counts are published once a year. No quarterly figure is estimated between them. - **Reporting coverage.** The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare notes that its figures may not be comparable across jurisdictions or over time, and community housing counts depend on reporting by providers. Transfers of dwellings between programs, such as from public to community housing, change the split between programs but not the total used here. 6Other Components The other seven components of Legislation & Policy Analysis (21300). [Node 21310Tax LawsReads duty collected on property transfers relative to the value of the residential dwelling stock.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/21310-tax-laws/) [Node 21320Planning Regulations & Zoning PolicyReads the share of new dwelling approvals that are not detached houses, as a measure of how far the planning system permits medium- and higher-density supply.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/21320-planning-regulations-zoning-policy/) [Node 21340Foreign Investment PolicyRecords the rules that apply when a foreign person buys residential property, from Commonwealth fees and access rules to state and territory duty and land-tax surcharges.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/series-21340/) [Node 21350Banking & Lending RegulationRecords APRA's rules for assessing and writing new home loans, and how much they reduce the largest loan a borrower can be approved for.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/series-21350/) [Node 21360Sustainability & Environmental PoliciesCovers the energy and environmental requirements that apply to new homes. No standardised reading is published while a register of these settings is designed.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/21360-sustainability-environmental-policies/) [Node 21370Tenancy & Consumer Protection LawCovers the rules governing residential tenancies. No standardised reading is published while a register of these settings across all eight jurisdictions is designed.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/21370-tenancy-consumer-protection-law/) [Node 21380Housing Policy OutcomesGroups quarterly measures of what housing policy produces, as distinct from the policy settings read elsewhere in this series.](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/series-21380/) [Parent branch21300 — Legislation & Policy Analysis](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/) Series Distillation (EL1–EL6) The series explained in six tiers, from plain English to expert. [EL1 · Plain EnglishWhy Is Property So Hard Right Now?](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/el1-why-is-property-so-hard-right-now/) [EL2 · FoundationalHow Government Rules Shape the Property Market](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/el2-how-government-rules-shape-the-property-market/) [EL3 · PractitionerWhat the Laws Are Doing to the Australian Property Market](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/el3-what-the-laws-are-doing-to-the-market/) [EL4 · Advanced PractitionerThree Ways the Series Measures Policy](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/el4-the-regulatory-split/) [EL5 · ExpertThe 21300 Series in Detail: Constructs, Baselines and Positions](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/el5-structural-regulatory-configuration-q4-2025/) [EL6 · MasterfulMeasuring Policy: What a Legislative Series Can and Cannot Show](https://australianproperty.network/apn-codex/series-20000/series-21000/series-21300/el6-structural-architecture-of-residential-policy-failure/) 7Certification Statement APN Codex Node 21330 — Housing Policy (Affordable, Social) — Certified - Certified 24 September 2026 at −1.2971σ at 30 June 2025, on one input: social housing as a share of all dwellings - Position 9.7, indicative; empirical ranking begins at 20 observations (currently 14) - Baseline 2012–2025, N 14, below the standard minimum-observation floor - Findings are presented on the basis of data and evidence alone.