Home Ownership
Why more retirees are still paying off mortgages
Big numbers of Australian Baby Boomers are now entering retirement with a mortgage. The proportion of homeowners who still have a mortgage at the point of retirement in 2016 surged 23 per cent in a decade to 36 per cent. Generation X are also heading towards retirement with mortgage debt.
This article examines the reasons behind this phenomenon.
2020
Themes:
We’re delaying major life events, and our retirement income system hasn’t caught up
An article looking at the need to conduct an independent review of Australia’s retirement income system, in view of the fact that old age Australian renters have some of the worst relative poverty rates in the OECD.
2019
Mutual Appreciation: A Social Innovation Thinkpiece
Global trends and domestic policy have challenged Australia’s traditional owner-occupier housing model and undermined the assumption of zero housing costs in retirement that underpins both our retirement income and aged care systems. Housing has become a commodity, a place where investors grow wealth to hand down inter-generationally while others become increasingly vulnerable to housing stress.
2019
Housing in an ageing Australia: Nest and nest egg?
Homeownership serves multiple purposes over the life cycle: It acts as a home as well as a store of wealth to guarantee financial security in retirement. Its lack in old age compromises security of both tenure and finances. Much has been written about housing and homeownership. Here we apply the prism of population ageing to bring new insights to the topic.
This brief is in three parts.
2019
Fall in ageing Australians’ home-ownership rates looms
According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics Survey of Income and Housing, home-ownership rates among Australians aged 55-64 years dropped from 86% to 81% between 2001 and 2016.
Mortgage burdens have spiked in the 55-64 age group. In 2001 roughly 80% were mortgage-free. By 2016 this had plummeted to only 56%.
Indebtedness is even growing among owners aged 65 and over.
2019
Housing in an ageing Australia: Nest and nest egg?
Housing outcomes affect financial and personal health and wellbeing over the lifecycle. And as lifespans increase and Australia’s population ages it is important to continue to examine the interactions between demography and housing. This research brief explores the current state and projected future of such interactions, marrying policy developments with the latest data and research.
2019
Themes:
Housing America's Older Adults 2019
Within the US, the 65+ age group, most recent income gains have gone to the highest earners, and the number of households with housing cost burdens has reached an all-time high.
2019
Fall in ageing Australians’ home-ownership rates looms as seismic shock for housing policy
Outright home ownership has long been regarded as a supporting pillar of Australian retirement incomes policies. Increasingly, concerns that rising mortgage debt and falling home ownership rates in later life are undermining the role of home ownership in supporting retirees’ financial wellbeing.
2019
Themes:
Housing in an ageing Australia: Nest and nest egg?
This brief is in three parts. Part one tackles the dynamics of the housing purchase in working life, describing the patterns of housing tenure across generations, demographic and market dynamics, the likely future effects of demography on housing demand, and the policies that can affect home purchase outcomes, particularly taxes.
2019
The 'housing story': An Australian Perspective
The traditional ‘housing story’ narrative has become increasingly out of step with an Australia where it has become more and more difficult topretend that the housing status quo is delivered for all.
2019
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"There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort."