Back

New Research: 44% of people in a sharehouse are now over the age of 40

Homerun

Key Facts:

• 44% of respondents are aged 40 or over, the largest single age group in the study.
• 17% already own a home and let rooms in it, rising to 26% of the over 40s.
• 35% have shared for five years or more, and 18% for more than ten.
• 69% did not expect, at 20, to still be sharehousing at their current age.
• 31% never expect to own a home. A further 11% put ownership more than a decade away.
• 75% say the high cost of housing has extended how long they will keep sharing.
• 71% had at least one person move in or out of the household in the past 12 months.
• 86% describe their household as a positive place to live.

Today Homerun launches The Sharehouse Generation Report.
https://homerun.app/sharehouse-generation-report/

Partnering with Flatmate Finders, the report looked into 3,562 people living in share accommodation. The sharehouse has stopped being a temporary stage people pass through, and almost nobody living in one expected to still be sharing at their current age.

The stereotypical early 20s sharehouse is now the minority, at 16%. The largest single age group in Australian share accommodation is people aged 40 and over, who make up 44% of respondents in a new study of 3,562 Australians living in or hosting a sharehouse, released today by Homerun with Flatmate Finders.

69% of respondents say that when they were 20, they did not expect to still be living in a sharehouse at their current age. Among those aged 40 and over, that rises to 78%. Nearly a third, 31%, no longer expect to ever own a home.

Key findings

• 44% of respondents are aged 40 or over, the largest single age group in the study.
• 17% already own a home and let rooms in it, rising to 26% of the over 40s.
• 35% have shared for five years or more, and 18% for more than ten.
• 69% did not expect, at 20, to still be sharehousing at their current age.
• 31% never expect to own a home. A further 11% put ownership more than a decade away.
• 75% say the high cost of housing has extended how long they will keep sharing.
• 71% had at least one person move in or out of the household in the past 12 months.
• 86% describe their household as a positive place to live.

Not a temporary stage, a more permanent housing tenure

The report identifies six recurring types of Australian sharehouse.

• The Restart. Entered share accommodation after separation, divorce or widowhood. Named unprompted by roughly one in ten of the over 40s, so the true share is almost certainly higher.
• The Long Hauler. Five or more years in share accommodation. 35% of respondents, with 18% past the ten year mark.
• The Owner Host. Owns a home and lets rooms to carry the mortgage. 17% of respondents, rising to 26% of the over 40s.
• The Pair. A two person household, and the most common shape in the data at 45% of respondents.
• The Priced Out Professional. In their thirties and expected to own by now. 27% of respondents are in their thirties, and 80% of the 35 to 39 band did not expect to still be sharehousing.
• The Found Family. Describes the household as social and close. 20% of respondents.

Alongside the pressure, the study finds that sharehousing is largely pleasant. 86% describe the house as positive, and the most common things people say they love are community and cost in roughly equal measure.

"Sharehouses are underrepresented and underserviced. Co-living with people you are not related to comes with its own problems, and very little is built for them. This data makes two things clear.

Sharehousing is a far more permanent housing class than the public perceives, and the profile of who lives in one is much broader than the stereotype.

Running a household is work, and it is harder between independent adults. Splitting the finances, agreeing on what clean means, keeping the shared things stocked, and finding someone new when a housemate moves out.

That work has to sit somewhere. For a property manager the simplest assumption is that a head tenant is handling it, which pushes it back onto the household. Most tenants have no system for it, so they work it out themselves."

SCOTT MCKEON, FOUNDER, HOMERUN

About the research

The Sharehouse Generation 2026 collected 3,672 responses from Australians living in or hosting share accommodation in March and April 2026. After removing 110 duplicate submissions, the analysis base is 3,562 unique respondents. Figures are unweighted.

This is not a representative sample of all Australian sharehouses. It is a study of Australians actively forming or reforming one, recruited through Flatmate Finders and Homerun. Attribution for any figure: The Sharehouse Generation report, Homerun with Flatmate Finders, 2026 (n=3,562).

About us:

About Homerun

Homerun is an Australian platform that makes running a sharehouse easier for the people living in one: rent payments, bill splitting, household admin and the everyday coordination that keeps a share home going.

This research is how we understand the households we are building for.

About Flatmate Finders

Flatmate Finders is one of Australia's largest share accommodation services. Flatmate Finders partnered with Homerun on this study and opened the survey to customers that used their service over the past 12 months. The research was designed and analysed by Homerun.

Contact details:

Media contact
Scott McKeon, Founder, Homerun
[email protected]