The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) publishes data on how many individuals have an interest in a rental property each year, from 1999–00 onwards. A property interest means someone owned the property alone, with others, or for part of the year—for example, if they bought or sold it during that year.

The ATO’s annual taxation statistics provide an overview of the income tax status of individuals, companies, partnerships, trusts, and funds. Data on rental property ownership by individuals comes from individual income tax returns processed by the ATO up to the lodgement deadline following the income year (usually 31 October). The statistics may not be complete, as some returns may be processed later or not included.

ATO data are also used in the following dashboard menu option: Capital gains from real estate by entity and Capital gains and rent – individuals by postcode.

See ATO Taxation Statistics 2022–23  (https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/taxation-statistics-2022-23) for source data and data quality information. Source reference table: Taxation statistics 2022–23, Snapshot – Table 4.