Tenure and property rights has been a major vehicle for economic growth, social development and natural resource management in Australia.
What is land tenure?
Land tenure is the legal regime in which land is owned, leased, reserved or unallocated to a defined purpose in Australia. Land tenure defines who can hold and use resources, for what length of time, and under what conditions.
Australia's land tenure
| Land tenure 2020-21 | Area (sq. km) | Percent (%) |
| Freehold | 2,369,556 | 30.8 |
| Freeholding lease | 19,704 | 0.3 |
| Pastoral perpetual lease | 853,693 | 11.1 |
| Other perpetual lease | 196,339 | 2.6 |
| Pastoral term lease | 2,130,991 | 27.7 |
| Other term lease | 32,428 | 0.4 |
| Other lease | 78,767 | 1.0 |
| Nature conservation reserve | 596,572 | 7.8 |
| Multiple-use public forest | 111,555 | 1.4 |
| Other Crown purposes | 290,311 | 3.8 |
| Other Crown land | 1,00,7301 | 13.1 |
| No data/unresolved tenure | 8,923 | 0.1 |
| Total | 7,696,138 | 100 |
Numbers may not tally due to rounding.
Source: ABARES (2024) Land tenure of Australia 2010-11 to 2020-21, Level 3
Land tenure data was constructed by combining jurisdictional land title information from digital cadastre databases or their equivalents with Indigenous land grant instruments areas.
Data on Australia’s land tenure, and land tenure change, is available for 2010–11, 2015–16, and 2020–21. See the Land tenure of Australia 2010-11 to 2020-21 product page for more information, and to view or download the data.
National classification system
Land tenure information has been classified according to a four-tiered hierarchical structure, ordered in increasing level of detail:
- Level 1 distinguishes between the basic land title types of Freehold and Crown land.
- Level 2 splits Crown land into Leasehold, dedicated or reserved for Crown purposes and Other Crown land.
- Level 3 further distinguishes Crown land, defining Leasehold type or Crown purposes type based on term and purpose. Leasehold types are split into Freeholding lease, Pastoral perpetual lease, Other perpetual lease, Pastoral term lease, Other term lease, and Other lease. Crown purposes are split into Nature conservation reserve, Multiple-use public forest and Other Crown purposes.
- Level 4 distinguishes land with an Indigenous land grant, either Crown land held on behalf of, or freehold land owned by, traditional owner groups. Level 4 does not include native title which applies alongside tenure.
Download the Land Tenure of Australia Classification as an excel worksheet [100kb].
As tenure is legislated at a state and territory level not all classes are present as a tenure type in each Jurisdiction.
National Land Account
The Land tenure of Australia data series is an input to the National Land Account, Experimental Estimates.