Demographics Affects Housing Characteristics

Demographic is a study of human population which based on few aspects such as population density, population composition and lifestyle choices. While housing characteristics is define as the differences in housing such as the size, type and age of house. Generally speaking, demographic factors will result in having different housing characteristics. To illustrate this relationship, two suburbs, Stuart Park and Nightcliff from Darwin have been chosen. First of all, Darwin is a tropical wet and dry climate capital city of Northern Territory, Australia. Because it has a tropical cyclone that causes destruction, people there tend to have a more modern housing to support the weather. Secondly, “Stuart Park is primarily home to young singles, and … the primary attraction is the fantastic location between the Botanic Gardens and the CBD” (Raine & Horne: 2011). It is usually a residential area for people who mostly work in the city. Also, there are Stuart highway which leads to Darwin International Airport, Charles Darwin National Park and more, until Adelaide. Thirdly, Nightcliff is a residential area by the sea, far from the CBD. However, it is near Charles Darwin University, Darwin International Airport and Royal Darwin Hospital and it has a peaceful and harmony life. Therefore, in order to illustrate the relationship, there are a few similarities and differences in two suburbs in terms of demographic factors. According to the census data available, they have approximately same population, similar household size and most of them are Australians. On the contrary, there are few differences in terms of demographic factors such as, age and sex, marital status and family size and occupation and income. Besides that, this will illustrate how demographics factors affect housing characteristics in different suburbs.

The first difference in terms of demographic factors is age and sex. In Stuart Park, there are more men than women. As there are army base and CBD nearby, it is