The persistence of housing stress, defined as the proportion of households experiencing housing stress from one year to the next, is derived from The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. A household is considered in housing stress if housing costs are more than 30% of the household income, and the household is in the bottom 40% of the income distribution. Data on persistence of housing stress is expressed as the proportion who remain in housing stress in the following year, and those who have been in housing stress in any year.

Started in 2001, the HILDA Survey is a nationally-representative household-based panel study that collects valuable information about economic and personal well-being, labour market dynamics and family life from participants annually. It aims to tell the stories of the same group of Australians over the course of their lives. The HILDA Survey is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Social Services. The Melbourne Institute is responsible for the design and management of the Survey. Data presented here are sourced from the HILDA General Release 22 unit record files.

HILDA Survey data are also used in the following dashboard menu options: Housing costs as a proportion of income (HILDA) and Low income households in housing stress.

See the Australian Data Archive, HILDA Statistical reports and the HILDA Survey User Manual for further information, including in-depth commentary and analysis, in particular source data quality information. For access to the HILDA unit record data, contact the National Centre for Longitudinal Data Dataverse.