Just 2.1 divorces per 1000 adults were granted in Australia in 2024.

That’s lower than during the recession of the 1990s, when financial strain pushed marriages to the brink.

Australia’s divorce rate is at its lowest level since no-fault divorce laws were introduced in 1976, when we counted more than six divorces per 1000 adults.

Why are we seeing so few divorces? We’ve de-stigmatised divorce, shouldn’t we see more divorces?

This counterintuitive trend has an easy explanation. We see fewer divorces as there are fewer marriages – so far so simple. There is, however, an unexpected property angle to the story.

New research suggests another sobering explanation – high housing costs are locking couples into relationships they might otherwise leave. It’s not that Australians are happier. It’s that separation has become unaffordable.

Consider the mathematics. A couple servicing an average mortgage of $750,000 almost certainly relies on two incomes to meet repayments.

In a separation, one household turns into two households. Both partners keep their job but somehow must find money to support an additional household. For many, the sums simply don’t work.

Add children, and the mathematics become impossible since both households must be large enough to host children at least for a weekend.

Separating from your partner has several property solutions: You sell the family home, regardless of it being a buyer’s or a seller’s market, and establish two new households. Maybe one parent remains in the family home while the other moves out.

In such a case, the local neighbourhood might be too expensive or doesn’t offer relevant small rental accommodation. The leaving parent then must move further away from their kids.

Maybe both parties move into rental accommodation and thereby limit the wealth accumulation ability of the (former) family unit. Any divorcee adds additional pressure to an already very tight rental market.

Since everyone in Australia is aware of how unattractive the rental market is at the moment, might it be the case that couples stay together that would’ve split otherwise? How many relationships persist not because they’re........

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