The traditional image of the young Australian sharehouse is being challenged, with people aged 40 and over accounting for 43.5 per cent of respondents in new research into Australians actively forming or reforming shared households.
The finding comes as NSW rolls out portable rental bonds statewide and property investors prepare for major changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax from July 2027, adding to signs that the way Australians rent, own and invest in residential property is shifting.
The Sharehouse Generation Report 2026, produced by Homerun in partnership with Flatmate Finders, surveyed 3,672 people in March and April before removing 110 duplicate submissions, leaving 3,562 unique respondents.
Of those, 43.5 per cent were aged 40 or over, making them the largest single age group in the study.
Separately, 35.4 per cent of respondents had lived in share accommodation for at least five years and 17.6 per cent had been sharing for more than a decade.
The research is not representative of all Australian sharehouses. Respondents were recruited through Flatmate Finders and Homerun and were people actively forming or reforming a sharehouse, with the researchers noting that older sharers are over-represented because they are more likely to use a paid matching service.
Within that sample, however, affordability was a significant factor in how long people expected to continue sharing.
Almost three-quarters, 74.6 per cent, said higher property prices had extended the period they expected to remain in shared accommodation, while 31.2 per cent did not think they would ever own a home.
Among respondents aged 40 and over, 40.9 per cent said they did not expect to ever own.
The gap between housing expectations and reality was also pronounced, with 68.5 per cent of all respondents saying that when they were 20 they had not expected to still be living in a sharehouse at their current age.
Among those aged 40 and over, that increased to 77.9 per cent.
Homerun founder Scott McKeon said the findings challenged conventional perceptions of who lived in shared accommodation.
“Sharehousing is a far more permanent housing class than the public perceives, and the profile of who lives in one is much broader than the stereotype,” Scott said.
The research also found 16.9 per cent of respondents already owned a home and let rooms in it, increasing to 25.8 per cent among those aged 40 and over.
Despite the financial pressures behind some people’s decision to share, 86.1 per cent of respondents described their household as a positive place to live.
The findings come as a major change to the rental bond system takes effect across NSW, with the Minns Government rolling out Smart Rental Bonds statewide on September 16, months ahead of schedule.
The system allows eligible renters moving between NSW rental properties to transfer an existing bond to their next home rather than finding the money for a second full bond while waiting for the original to be released.
Almost $1 million worth of bond transfers were completed during the initial rollout across Penrith, Parramatta and the Central Coast, according to the NSW Government, allowing the statewide launch to be brought forward.
Renters using the scheme pay a $25 fee and any difference if the new bond is higher. If an agreed deduction is owed to the previous landlord, the NSW Government pays the landlord and the renter repays the Government.
The Government estimates the scheme could save renters from having to find up to $4,000 upfront each time they move.
For agents and landlords, the existing process for lodging and claiming bonds through Rental Bonds Online remains largely unchanged, with the Government retaining responsibility for ensuring an agreed deduction is paid to the landlord.
NSW Premier Chris Minns said the change was intended to remove one of the significant upfront costs associated with changing rental properties.
“Moving home is expensive enough without having to find thousands of dollars for a second bond while your first one is still tied up,” Mr Minns said.
“For a family or household already juggling the rent, groceries, power bills and everything else, that’s a lot of money to find at once.”
The Government says more than two million people rent in NSW.
While renters face changes to how they move between properties, investors are also preparing for a substantial reset of the tax treatment of residential property.
From July 1, 2027, negative gearing will be restricted to new residential builds, with properties held before the policy announcement on May 12, 2026 exempt from the changes.
Investors who acquired established housing after the announcement will still be able to deduct losses against other residential property income, including capital gains, and carry excess losses forward, but will not be able to deduct those losses against non-residential income such as wages.
The Federal Government will also replace the 50 per cent capital gains tax discount with inflation-based indexation and introduce a minimum 30 per cent tax rate on capital gains from July 1, 2027.
The new arrangements apply to capital gains accruing from that date when ultimately realised, while investors buying new builds will be able to choose between the existing 50 per cent CGT discount and the new arrangements.
Against that backdrop, Ray White Group Head of Research Vanessa Rader has turned her attention to regional markets where established housing is often the only realistic investment option and rental income, rather than capital growth, forms the basis of the investment case.
Ray White’s research identified a group of regional markets across Queensland, NSW, Western Australia and South Australia where relatively low median prices were producing calculated rental yields well into double digits.
Queensland’s Aramac topped the analysis with a median house price of $120,000 and a rental yield of 33.9 per cent, followed by Mount Magnet in Western Australia at $49,000 and 31.3 per cent and Menindee in far western NSW at $62,000 and 23.8 per cent.
Other markets identified by Ray White included Alpha in Queensland at $141,000 with a 20.1 per cent yield, Augathella at $158,000 and 19.4 per cent, Hughenden at $230,000 and 18.9 per cent and Walgett in NSW at $101,000 and 18.8 per cent.
The analysis also identified Andamooka in South Australia at $68,000 with an 18.7 per cent yield, Meekatharra in Western Australia at $137,000 and 17.8 per cent and Bourke in NSW at $161,000 and 16.3 per cent.
Vanessa said the common thread between the markets was the economic activity supporting their rental populations, including mining, agriculture, government services and resource management.
“What connects these markets is not glamour or conventional growth potential. It is function,” she said.
“Each of these towns exists because something happens there, whether mining, pastoralism, government services or resource management, and that activity creates a rental population with few other housing options.”
But she cautioned that the investment proposition was fundamentally different from buying into a market on expectations of substantial price appreciation.
“Income returns are the story here, not capital growth,” Vanessa said.
“Many of these towns have carried similar median prices for years, and there is little reason to expect that to change materially.”
The Federal Government says restricting negative gearing to new builds is intended to direct tax support towards additional housing supply, but Vanessa argues the policy presents a different equation in small regional markets where new development is scarce or non-existent.
“In these towns, there is no new build alternative,” she said. “The choice is between buying established or not buying at all.”