International research into migrants’ housing consumption has traditionally focussed on the geographic patterns of settlement and the housing quality and options of migrants. There are particular emphases on migrants who have arrived recently and the housing of forced or labour migrants. There is thus far little research into the housing consumption of second, third or later generation migrants, particularly in consideration of Burnley’s (2010) findings that traditional cultural practices can be passed down for multiple generations. This paper, using 25 years of Australian Census data, considers one type of living arrangement traditional amongst many Asian, Middle Eastern and Southern European cultures – multi-generation households – and explores how its practice has changed over time in the host of Sydney, Australia.

Edgar Liu, City Futures Research Centre, Faculty of Built Environment, University of NSW