What Matters Most? explores people’s housing priorities. Is having a garden more important than access to public transport? How important is it to us to live close to work? And do these priorities differ across age groups and household types?

As an extension to Grattan’s report The Housing We’d Choose, this working paper examines in depth the responses of over 700 city residents who were asked about their housing and location priorities.

What Matters Most? shows that there are real differences in priorities across the population. In particular, while young families are focussed on house size and type, older and single-person households are much more likely to think that characteristics of where they live are more important. Given our ageing population and the growth of smaller households, these differences could result in significant shifts in the mix of housing we want.