Sydney Olympic Park renter Elton Coltheart is not surprised by the low home ownership rate in the suburb. Credit:Daniel Munoz The biggest decline was in Arncliffe-Bardwell Park, where the rate of home ownership shrank by 12.7 per cent, followed by Homebush Bay-Silverwater (-9.6 per cent) and Castle Hill-East (-9.1 per cent). One-sixth of Sydney's "level 2" statistical areas (which generally combine two or three adjacent suburbs) saw home ownership rates decline by 5 percentage points or more between 2011 and 2016. However, home ownership crept higher in some of the city's most exclusive neighbourhoods including Mosman (+0.3 per cent), Rose Bay-Vaucluse (+0.6 per cent) Double Bay-Bellevue Hill (+1.4 per cent and Avalon-Palm Beach (+3 per cent). Grattan Institute researcher Brendan Coates said the 2016 census showed the Australian dream of home ownership is slipping further out of reach.

"Whether or not you can purchase a home within 20 kilometres of our big city centres will increasingly depend on the wealth of your parents rather than on anything you can do for yourself," he said. "The reason for that is that is that house prices have risen so quickly." The Grattan Insititute's research shows the decline in home ownership has been most pronounced among those aged between 25 and 54 years. Separate suburb-level census data provided to The Herald by the Bureau of Statistics shows there are now more 40 Sydney suburbs were the rate of outright home ownership (those without a mortgage) is lower than 10 per cent. A clutch of relatively new, high density suburbs including Sydney Olympic Park and Wolli Creek are among the neighbourhoods with the lowest outright home ownership rates.

Elton Coltheart is a 29-year-old accountant who rents a one-bedroom apartment in Sydney Olympic Park with his wife Stacey. The rate of outright home ownership there is just 4.2 per cent. "The low rate of ownership doesn't surprise me …there are real estate signs for rental properties littered all over the place," he said. Mr Coltheart said his community has a "very transient population" and described living there as a "means to an end". "Overall we don't particularly enjoy living in Olympic Park," he said. The Colthearts recently bought a four-bedroom house in Spring Farm, which Mr Coltheart says is still cheaper than the small 1-bedroom apartment they rent in Olympic Park.

"I understand that in a city like Sydney first home owners shouldn't expect to live right in the CBD, but the problem we have is there is no stepping stone into the market, unless you are willing to make significant sacrifices," he said. Spring Farm also has one of Sydney's lowest rates of outright ownership, at 7.3 per cent. Other neighbourhoods with outright home ownership rates below 10 per cent include Airds (2.1 per cent), The Ponds (7.5 per cent) and Parramatta (8.6 per cent). There are now more than 200 Sydney suburbs where the rate of outright home ownership is lower than 20 per cent. Despite the longer commute times from Spring Farm Mr Coltheart is upbeat about his move.

"The area is less busy, more open and more suited for raising a family," he said. "Many of our friends have already left and are living further out. It's really the only option unless you have generous parents or win the lottery." "Buying in Olympic Park was never an option for us. We could never comfortably afford the mortgage repayments when interest rates eventually go up." The overall rate of home ownership in the Sydney metropolitan area (including those who own outright or with a mortgage) fell from 65.2 per cent to 62.3 per cent between 2011 and 2016. Sydney's rate is now more than 3 percentage points lower than the national average. Some of the highest rates of outright home ownership were found among waterfront and beachside neighbourhoods including Huntleys Point (55.2 per cent), Bilgola Beach (53.6 per cent), Clareville (51.4 per cent and Woolwich (49.9 per cent). - with Josh Dye