Understanding the Share Housing Sector: A Geography of Group Housing Supply in Metropolitan Sydney

Abstract

ABSTRACT Within the wider affordability crisis affecting major cities throughout the world, share housing has become increasingly important, potentially expanding capacity in the private rental sector. But share housing is difficult to monitor and research, embedded in various forms of tenancy and household arrangements within the wider housing system. Online rental platforms which increasingly enable and facilitate the share housing sector may also offer a critical window into its operation. This paper examines this possibility with reference to Sydney, Australia, drawing on listings scraped from share housing platform “Flatmates.com.au” to determine the scale and distribution of shared housing vacancies relative to the city’s wider housing market. Our findings demonstrate rising dependence on share housing as a source of lower-cost rental supply near employment and education but raise questions about share accommodation as a long-term housing solution.