3.6 million Australians will rent forever

More than three million Australians could be stuck renting forever, with Queenslanders and Baby Boomers leading the way, according to home loan comparison website, finder.com.au.

The website survey found that 47 per cent of renters said they would consider renting for a lifetime, as house prices continued to rise.

The survey of 2,006 Australians found 57 per cent of respondents said they had a foothold in the property market and lived in their own home, while 43 per cent of participants rented.

Of those surveyed, 78 per cent of Baby Boomers said they would rent forever, while 53 per cent of generation X said they would rent until the end, while two out of three generation Ys (61 per cent) were saving for a house deposit.

South Australians and Tasmanians were most likely to own their own home, while Queenslanders were most content to rent for life. However, based on respondents' current positions, NSW residents had the highest portion of adult renters (21.1 per cent), followed by Queensland in close second (20.9 per cent).

Money expert at finder.com.au, Bessie Hassan, said some people were now forced to rent for their entire lives as house prices were out of their reach.

There could come a time when there were more renters than owner occupiers in Australia, however the margin between homeownership and renters had narrowed, she said.

More than 3.6 million Australians said they would rent forever after they factored in the cost of owning their own home, Hassan said.

"It's difficult but not impossible if ‘generation rent' want to get onto the property ladder," Hassan said.