Chris Little has mastered the art of packing up his life.

For the 49-year-old father of two, folding away clothes has become a familiar ritual — not just because of his young daughters but because of the constant moves.

“This is the fifth house I’ve lived in in this area in the last 10 years,” he said.

“It’s a pain having to move every 12 months, two years, three years.

“I’ve had three notices given by the landlords that they intend to sell or their children are going to move into the property. And each time I’ve moved out, [the property] has been rented out again at a large price.”

Despite years of trying, Mr Little has not been able to save enough for a deposit, keeping him and his daughters firmly in the rental market.

An increasing number of Australians are finding themselves in the same position.

Census data shows that across the country, the proportion of renters has grown over the past decade for every age group except those aged 80 and over — except for in Sydney, where renting has increased among those over 80.

Data from the Australian Housing Conditions Dataset indicates that almost 50 per cent of private renters believe they will never be able to afford their own home.

University of Adelaide housing researcher Emma Baker said the data indicated Australia was facing a pivotal shift.

“Australia really is at a tipping point, transitioning from a home-owning nation to a nation where renting needs to be a lifetime tenure,” Professor Baker said.

Professor Baker was the lead researcher of a peer-reviewed study by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute that looked at Australia’s two-tenure future and explored what rental protections tenants were willing to pay for.

A survey of about 1,000 renters found, on average, they would pay an extra:

• $127 a month for housing that meets standards above the bare minimum
• $72 more for indefinite leases
• $77 to cap rent increases to 5 per cent a year

“People would trade off some extra costs for being able to be a bit more secure in their rental,” Professor Baker said.

“It lets us home in on what renters actually value, giving us insight into what’s most important to them.”

Advocacy organisation Better Renting has released its latest Cost of Renting Report, which is based on a survey of 1,466 renters.

It found nine in 10 renters were paying more than they were a year ago, with the average rent increasing more than 10 per cent.

Joel Dignam, executive director of Better Renting, said “a real social divide” between renters and home owners was emerging.

“Renters are running just to stay still, while landlords can make tens of thousands a year just from the rise in value of their properties,” he said.

“This means a less equal society.”

Mr Little has been feeling the pinch of higher rent prices. However, he also said that while he would prefer to own a home, he would not mind paying a little extra to lock in a rental beyond a few years.

“That added security, I think, would make a huge difference to me.”

Half of the respondents to the Better Renting survey said repairs were not completed within a month, and three in five respondents said they tried not to bring up issues with their landlord due to fear of retaliation.

Professor Baker said that reflected Australia’s culture in which renting was a temporary housing situation.

“We haven’t made renting the place that someone wants to live for their whole lives,” she said.

“The way that we deal with renting and the protections and the safety that we give to renters needs to change.”

Renting into retirement

As lifelong renting becomes a reality for more Australians, some experts are warning the trend could have implications for retirement policy.

“In the past, we’ve always looked at it as a kind of temporary tenure,” Professor Baker said.

“We haven’t made renting the place that someone wants to live for their whole lives.

“The way that we deal with renting and the protections and the safety that we give to renters needs to change.”

Eliza Owen, head of research at CoreLogic, said as renters get older and wealthier, some political change had taken place.

“Over the past few years, some of the most significant changes we’ve seen in the rental market have been a ban on no-grounds evictions, and in some parts of the country we’ve also seen limitations on rent increases,” Ms Owen said.

“However, there are also wealth implications for missing out on home ownership that should be taken into account.

“Part of that might also be increasing superannuation or welfare payments later in life to help those who don’t manage outright home ownership by the time they retire.”

Ben Phillips from the ANU’s Centre for Social Policy Research said policies needed to adapt to accommodate long-term renters.

“The federal government has increased rent assistance in the last couple of budgets by about 25 per cent, which has been a good start, but perhaps it needs to go a little bit higher than that, particularly for older renters who are likely to remain in that situation for quite some time and have limited scope to increase their income,” he said.

He also said there was a big push at the state and federal levels to increase public housing.

“But I think certainly for the short term, the next sort of two to five years, there’s very limited ability for any of the governments to increase that public rental stock significantly.”

For Mr Little, retirement is still 15 to 20 years away but he’s already trying to plan and is weighing up whether he should withdraw money from his superannuation to buy a property.

“I’d have a lot less to retire on but on the other hand I’d have somewhere to live,” he said.