Retirees keen to remain home rather than downsize
Almost three quarters of older Australians wish to remain in their own home when they retire, contrary to expectations they will downsize, according to Household Capital.
The firm’s latest Retirement Outcomes survey found 73% of Australians over 60 wished to stay in their own home but confidence in having enough funds to do so was low.
Only a quarter of respondents said they felt ‘very confident’ that they would have sufficient funds to live well in retirement.
They indicated a median home value which was 4.5 times the value of their superannuation, rising to 6.2 times for residents in Sydney.
Some 67% of retirees owned their home outright and one in eight people had a mortgage.
While they were cautious over their retirement, few were keen to access their superannuation early with just 0.4% of those over 60 saying they would do so. This was because they wanted to minimise any negative impact in the face of low equity yields.
Dr Joshua Funder, chief executive of Household Capital, said: “Most older Australians wish to remain in their home throughout retirement, but 74% are not confident they have adequate retirement funding and no one wants to access their super prematurely.
“Older Australians are among the wealthiest in the world. They have been great investors and savers, diligently accumulating capital in their home. And almost everyone is aware of the role home equity can play in helping to fund their retirement.”
AUTHOR
Laura Dew
Recommended for you
Advice firms are increasing their base salaries by as much as $50k to attract talent, particularly seeking advisers with a portable book of clients, but equity offerings remain off the table.
MLC Expand has appointed retirement specialist Andrew Long to work with advisers and licensees and drive growth for its recently launched retirement solution.
Despite banks largely having exited the industry, advisers under institutional licensees are least likely to switch while 26 advisers have been appointed to a licensee more than 10 times.
Insignia Financial has shared a progress update on the acquisition by US private equity firm CC Capital as well as the departure of a long-standing director.
