Quality Statement
Individual home ownership indicates whether a person aged 15 years and over owns (or partly owns) the dwelling they usually live in or holds it in a family trust.
Individual home ownership provides information on home ownership at the individual level, that is, whether individual people own their home or not. This is different to tenure of household which provides information on home ownership at the household level, that is, whether one or more household members own their home or not.
Moderate quality
Data quality processes section below has more detail on the rating.
Priority level 3
A priority level is assigned to all census concepts: priority 1, 2, or 3 (with 1 being highest and 3 being the lowest priority).
Individual home ownership is a priority 3 concept. Priority 3 concepts are given third priority in terms of quality, time, and resources across all phases of a census. Priority 3 concepts are those that are:
- data that census would not be solely run for, and information about population groups that could not be captured without being in a census
- data that is important to certain groups
- data that can be used to create sampling frames for other surveys.
The census priority level for individual home ownership remains the same as 2018.
The 2023 Census: Final content report has more information on priority ratings for census concepts.
Census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over
‘Subject population’ means the people, families, households, or dwellings that the variable applies to.
As this data relates to all people aged 15 years and over who were living in New Zealand, it includes those living in private dwellings (for example houses, units, apartments) and those living in non-private dwellings (for example student hostels, boarding houses, residential care for older people). It also includes teenagers and young people who live with their parents and do not (themselves) own their home.
This variable covers people whose home was unoccupied at census time and who were elsewhere in New Zealand. This is one way in which it differs from tenure of household, which excludes households whose home was unoccupied at census time.
Individual home ownership uses a 2-level hierarchical classification with level 1 presented in the table below:
Census Individual Home Ownership V1.1.0 – level 1 of 2
Code | Category |
---|---|
01 | Hold in a family trust |
02 | Own or partly own |
03 | Do not own and do not hold in a family trust |
99 | Not elsewhere included |
The level 1 residual category ‘Not elsewhere included’ contains the residual categories ‘Response unidentifiable’ and ‘Not stated’.
Follow the link above the table to examine the classification in more detail.
The ‘Do not own and do not hold in a family trust’ category includes people who were renting, living in a home owned by other household members (for example parents), living in housing provided to them on a rent-free basis, or living in types of dwellings which they themselves would not own, such as a student hostel or residential care for older people, for example, a rest home.
The 2023 Census classification for individual home ownership is consistent with that used in the 2018 Census.
The ‘Hold in a family trust’ and ‘Own or partly own’ categories can be grouped for output if wished and used for comparing the 2018 and 2023 Census data with earlier data.
Standards and classifications has more information on what classifications are, how they are reviewed, and where they are stored, and how to provide feedback on them.
Individual home ownership data is collected from the individual form (question 38 paper form). It is the only housing question asked on the individual form.
There have been changes to the questionnaire design since the 2018 Census:
- In 2018, the individual home ownership question had ’neither of these’ as a response option. In 2023, the same option has been changed to ‘neither of these, eg renting’.
There were also differences in the way a person could respond between the modes of collection (online and paper form):
On the online form:
- the individual home ownership question was only shown if the respondent was aged 15 years and over
- multiple response was not possible (Note: having a dwelling partly in a family trust and partly owned is a possible situation. The online help text stated: ‘If you have your home partly in a family trust and partly owned, select ‘Hold in a family trust’).
On the paper form:
- individual home ownership could be answered by all respondents (not just those aged 15 years and over)
- the paper form stated an ‘or’ before the tick box ‘neither of these eg renting’ whereas the online form did not
- multiple responses were possible and were resolved by using edits.
Data from the online forms may therefore be of higher overall quality than data from paper forms. However, processing checks and edits were in place to improve the quality of the paper form data.
Stats NZ Store House has samples for both the individual and dwelling paper forms.
Data-use outside Stats NZ:
- to explore patterns and trends in home ownership, including trends for different age groups, ethnic groups, and genders
- to measure shifts in the approach taken by government to housing assistance and the consequences of policy change
- in the study of affordability, tenure security, suitability, and habitability of housing
- for investigating inequality in housing in New Zealand.
Data-use by Stats NZ:
- to produce more in-depth reports and analyses on housing such as the Housing in Aotearoa: 2020 report.
Alternative data sources were used for missing census responses and responses that could not be classified or did not provide the type of information asked for. The table below shows the distribution of data sources for individual home ownership data.
Data sources for individual home ownership data, as a percentage of the census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over, 2023 Census | ||
---|---|---|
Source of individual home ownership data | Percent | |
2023 Census response | 84.3 | |
Historical census | 3.0 | |
2018 Census | 3.0 | |
Admin data | 0.0 | |
Deterministic derivation | 4.9 | |
Statistical imputation | 0.0 | |
No information | 7.7 | |
Total | 100.0 | |
Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not always sum to the stated total(s) or score contributions. |
Where appropriate, responses from the 2018 Census were used to replace missing or residual responses. Historical census data was only used for people who were at the same usual residence as 2018. If individual home ownership information could not be sourced from the previous census data, deterministic derivation was used where possible. This involved determining a person’s individual home ownership using other information such as:
- age
- tenure of household
- household composition
- dwelling type.
Note that deterministic derivation was only used where there was clear evidence as to a person's tenure status, for example, using an individual’s tenure of household information if they were in a one-person household. The deterministic derivation is the same methodology used for the 2013 Census in an edit, but only a part of the edit was used for the 2018 Census.
The ‘No information’ percentage is where we could not source individual home ownership data for a person in the subject population.
Editing, sourcing, and imputing data in the 2023 Census describes how data quality is improved by editing.
Missing and residual responses represent data gaps where respondents either did not provide answers (missing responses) or provided answers that were not valid (residual responses).
Where possible, alternative data sources have been used to fill missing and residual responses in the 2023 Census.
Percentage of ‘Not stated’ for the census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over:
- 2023: 7.7 percent
- 2018: 14.8 percent
- 2013: 5.4 percent
For output purposes, the residual category responses are grouped with ‘Not stated’ and are classified as ‘Not elsewhere included’.
Percentage of ‘Not elsewhere included’ for the census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over:
- 2023: 7.7 percent
- 2018: 15.0 percent
- 2013: 5.4 percent
Overall quality rating: Moderate
Data has been evaluated to assess whether it meets quality standards and is suitable for use.
Three quality metrics contribute to the overall quality rating:
- data sources and coverage
- consistency and coherence
- accuracy of responses.
The lowest rated metric determines the overall quality rating.
Data quality assurance in the 2023 Census provides more information on the quality rating scale.
Data sources and coverage: Moderate quality
The quality of all the data sources that contribute to the output for the variable were assessed. To calculate the data sources and coverage quality score for a variable, each data source is rated and multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output.
The rating for a valid census response is defined as 1.00. Ratings for other sources are the best estimates available of their quality relative to a census response. Each source that contributes to the output for that variable is then multiplied by the proportion it contributes to the total output. The total score then determines the metric rating according to the following range:
- 0.98–1.00 = very high
- 0.95–<0.98 = high
- 0.90–<0.95 = moderate
- 0.75–<0.90 = poor
- <0.75 = very poor.
The proportion of data received from 2023 Census forms, the lack of alternative data sources, and the high level of ‘No information’ resulted in a score of 0.92, leading to a quality rating of moderate.
Data sources and coverage rating calculation for individual home ownership data, census usually resident population count aged 15 years and over, 2023 Census | |||
---|---|---|---|
Source of individual home ownership data | Rating | Percent | Score contribution |
2023 Census response | 1.00 | 84.34 | 0.84 |
2018 Census | 0.90 | 3.03 | 0.03 |
Deterministic derivation | 0.97 | 4.91 | 0.05 |
No information | 0.00 | 7.71 | 0.00 |
Total | 100.00 | 0.92 | |
Note: Due to rounding, individual figures may not always sum to the stated total(s). |
The use of alternative data sources in 2023 for individual home ownership significantly reduced the proportion of data with ‘No information’.
Consistency and coherence: Moderate quality
Individual home ownership data is mostly consistent with expectations across consistency checks. There is an overall difference in the data compared with expectations and benchmarks that can be explained through a combination of real-world change and a change in how the variable has been collected.
The change in methodology for the 2023 Census has reduced the proportion of missing data, leading to higher quality data than in 2018.
Accuracy of responses: Moderate quality
Individual home ownership data has various data quality issues involving several categories or aspects of the data, or entire levels of a hierarchical classification. The data quality issues could include problems with the classification or coding of data, such as vague responses resulting in coding issues, or responses that cannot be coded to a specific (non-residual) category, thereby reducing the amount of useful, meaningful data available for analysis.
Several edits have been introduced in the 2023 Census which have improved data accuracy. However, the data may contain some incorrect responses due to respondent error or misinterpretation. Respondent error or misinterpretation may occur in responses from people living in retirement villages,15-19-year-olds responding with ‘Hold in family trust’, and inconsistencies in answers with tenure of household.
Individual home ownership data can be used in a comparable manner to the 2018 Census data for this variable.
Data users should note the following:
- For the 2023 Census, historical census data was sourced for the first time.
- There are minor inconsistencies in the individual home ownership data when compared with tenure of household and private dwelling in a registered retirement village data which may be a result of respondent error or misinterpretation.
- Being a trustee of a family trust counts as holding the dwelling in a family trust. However, if a person is a beneficiary only and not a trustee, that does not count as holding the dwelling in a family trust.
- For comparison with the 2013 Census data, the ‘Own or partly own’ and ‘Hold in a family trust’ categories in the 2018 and 2023 data can be aggregated together.
Comparisons to other data sources
Census is the only comprehensive source of information about individual home ownership data. Comparing 2023 Census data with other data sources should be done with care.
To assess how this concept aligns with the variables from the previous censuses, use the links:
- Individual home ownership – 2018 Information by variable
- Tenure holder – 2013 Information by variable
Contact our Information centre for further information about using this concept.