If you’re about to turn 40 and you don’t yet own a home you’d better get cracking because new research from Swinburne University shows it’s rare for people to own their first home after turning the big four-0.
With Australia’s rapidly aging population that could cause some financial hardship for those that do miss the home ownership boat through their retirement years.
Finder.com.au estimate the number of Australians that could spend their whole lives renting sits at around three million.
“The margin between home ownership and renting is narrowing, and there may come a time when there are more renters than owner-occupiers in this country,” Finder.com’s Bessie Hassan told News.com.
Official stats from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have 85 per cent of Australians currently owning a home, but the number of first home buyers has unfortunately halved in the last ten years.
The research from Swinburne found there was a need for more options for older renters and more affordable housing options for those who couldn’t get social housing but also couldn’t afford to pay full market price on housing.
“Social housing eligibility should be widened in order to cater for a broader range of incomes in order to prevent loss of wealth associated with being a private renter and the potential for retirees to exhaust their resources before end of life,” the research report states.
The research found that with public housing availability stagnated in recent years, the majority of low-income rental households is now in the private sector.
