Australia has one of the lowest rates of home ownership among rich countries as the dream of owning a home fades for young people and the lowly paid.
The latest report card into the nation's wellbeing also found welfare spending increased by $40 billion in the past decade, growing to 9.5 per cent of gross domestic product.
Rates of home ownership - either with or without a mortgage - declined "modestly" over the past two decades - from 71 per cent in 1994-95 to 67 per cent in 2013-14, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report Australia's welfare 2017.
This put Australia 29th among the 35 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, behind Hungary, the Czech Republic, Iceland and Ireland.
"Home ownership rates have tended to increase in many OECD countries over recent decades, unlike the Australian experience," the report states.
Rates of home ownership did not fall uniformly across Australia, with the largest fall in Victoria, which had a 7.8 per cent decline to 66 per cent, followed by NSW (4.3 per cent) and South Australia (2.5 per cent).
Global ratings agency Moody's reported on Wednesday that housing affordability had worsened across Australia, although a slight decline in house prices in Sydney - the country's least affordable market - led to a reduction in the proportion of household income spent on mortgage repayments.
The report found home ownership had fallen for people aged 25-34, while there was a slight increase for people aged over 65.
AIHW chief executive Barry Sandison said: "The financial impact of increased house prices and higher education costs are just some of the factors affecting the ability of younger generations to save for a deposit."
Australia scored highly in many measures of wellbeing such as health, environmental quality and civic engagement, according to the AIHW's two-yearly report.
But results were less impressive in areas such as work-life balance where Australia was one of the worst performers in the OECD.
One-fifth of men and 7 per cent of women in paid employment worked 50 hours or more per week in 2015, down from 26 per cent and 8 per cent in 2004 - leaving Australia 27th among OECD countries.
"Australia's Welfare 2017 shows that while we have made some inroads into achieving work-life balance, we are still among the bottom third of OECD countries when it comes to working long hours," Mr Sandison said.
Welfare spending on the rise
The report also found a $40 billion increase in welfare spending over the decade to 2015-16, with governments at the state and federal level spending more than $157 billion on welfare, compared to nearly $117 billion in 2006-07.
Welfare spending increased from 8.6 per cent to 9.5 per cent as a proportion of GDP over the period.
The welfare workforce grew by 84 per cent of 219,000 people in the past decade, representing more than 4 per cent of the 11.8 million people employed in Australia in 2015. The report estimated 478,000 people worked in early childhood education and care, aged care and disability services.
Welfare spending also outpaced population growth over the 10-year period, rising from $5663 to $6566 for each Australian resident.
However, Australia's expenditure on welfare was in the bottom third of rich countries at 12.8 per cent of GDP - lower than the United States and United Kingdom, but higher than Canada and New Zealand - compared to the OECD median of 17.1 per cent.
The AIHW's biennial wellbeing report card will be launched by Senator Zed Seselja, assistant minister for Social Services and Multicultural Affairs, at Parliament House in Canberra on Thursday.
