Swimming pool ownership increases in Australia
New research shows nearly 2.7 million Australians these days live in a house with a swimming pool, equivalent to 13% of the Australian population and up from 12% the last time Roy Morgan looked at the prevalence of swimming pools around Australia in early 2015.
Regional Queensland, which includes the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and a string of regional cities up the coast such as Bundaberg, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns, leads the nation. Twenty percent of regional Queenslanders live in a house with a swimming pool.
It won’t come as any surprise to know that Australia’s three most northerly State capitals are all far more likely to have houses with swimming pools than their southerly counterparts. Just under a fifth, or 19%, of Perth residents, 18% of Brisbane residents and 15% of Sydney residents now have a swimming pool at home.
Swimming pool ownership is below the national average in other parts of Australia. Only 9% of residents of Melbourne and Adelaide have a swimming pool and in Australia’s most southerly capital city of Hobart only 4% of the locals have a swimming pool – unchanged on four years ago.
Swimming pool ownership around Australia September 2018
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), October 2017-September 2018 (n=15,009). Base: Australians 14+.
How do Australian residents with swimming pools stack up psychographically?
Helix Personas is a unique and powerful consumer segmentation and data integration tool that combines sophisticated psychographic and behavioural data to classify the Australian population into 54 Personas and six Communities. Helix Personas uses a combination of Roy Morgan Single Source data and third party data sources.
This information is used to understand future buying intentions and media consumption patterns. These are easily integrated with third party datasets.
Leading Lifestyles and Hearth and Home more likely to own a swimming pool
Analysing Australia’s 2,667,000 residents with swimming pools in more detail reveals there are two Roy Morgan Helix Personas communities most likely to own a swimming pool led by Leading Lifestyles (21%) and Hearth and Home (17%).
But what type of people are the Australians represented by these communities?
- 100 – Leading Lifestyles: High income, highly educated, progressive and success and career focused, people in the Leading Lifestyles Community enjoy cultured city living to the max.
- 400 – Hearth and Home: Closest to the average Australian, life revolves around the home for these contented families and empty nesters, who see their homes as an expression of status and achievements.
Least likely to own a swimming pool are those in the Metrotechs (7%) and Doing Fine (7%) communities. Of the top ten Helix Personas most likely to own a swimming pool seven are from the Leading Lifestyles community and three are from the Hearth and Home community.
The most likely Helix Persona to own a swimming pool is 107 Domestic Bliss of which a high 31% own a swimming pool. Australians in 107 Domestic Bliss are culturally diverse. Just under half were born overseas, with a significant proportion hailing from Asia, along with a smaller proportion born in Europe. You’ll find lots of mid-life householders among them, along with mid-life families and older households, living predominately in the suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne.
Australian swimming pool owners ranked by Helix Personas
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), October 2017-September 2018 (n=15,009). Base: Australians 14+.
Michele Levine, Chief Executive Officer, Roy Morgan, says:
“Australia’s love affair with the swimming pool has grown in recent years with 13% of Australians living in a house with a swimming pool in 2018, up from 12% just under four years ago.
“Not surprisingly it is Australians in warmer climates who are more likely to have a swimming pool than those further south. Regional Queensland which includes the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and a string of sizeable regional cities up the coast including Mackay, Townsville and Cairns tops the nation with 20% now owning a swimming pool, up 3% in four years.
“Behind regional Queensland are Perth (19%), Brisbane (18%) and Sydney (15%) which are all clearly above the national rate of swimming pool ownership, and are also Australia’s three most northerly State capitals.
“Besides a warmer climate there are other factors that determine whether someone will own a swimming pool and these include socio-economic factors and also the presence of children in the house. Over 17% of Australians with kids aged 6-11 have a pool at home (up 2% on four years ago), a figure that jumps to just over 23% (up 3%) for homes with older children (12-15 years).
“The Helix Personas data is a unique and powerful consumer segmentation and data integration tool that combines sophisticated psychographic and behavioural data to classify the Australian population into 54 Personas and six communities.
“Roy Morgan’s psychographic segmentation tool Helix Personas also reveals that Australians in the Leading Lifestyles and Hearth and Home communities are the most likely to own a swimming pool. In fact nearly a third of Australians classified as part of the 107 Domestic Bliss Persona (part of the Leading Lifestyles community) own a swimming pool – the highest of any Persona.”
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
