News

NewsHousing Options For Fiftyups
Housing Options For Fiftyups

Housing Options For Fiftyups

Tags: Cost of Living
Last updated by Someone on

Since I began at the FiftyUp Club six months ago, many organisations have made contact with me with ideas for our Club. Some good, some not-so-good, but a consistent theme is accommodation options for older Australians.

NSW Minister for Ageing Michael Ajaka told us on the Fiftyup Club radio show this week that the state government had set aside $1 milion for the Liveable Communities Grants Program. Listen here

So what does accommodation look like for our ageing community?

Already in Melbourne and Sydney it is claimed there’s now an over-supply of apartments in both markets. Managing Director of DEPPRO tax depreciation specialists, Paul Bennion writes “the ageing profile of property owners has already led a big increase in the number of people seeking to downsize to apartments. People aged 60 years and over currently account for around 20 per cent of our entire population or one in four people in Australia. This has seen a growing demand for apartment living in established areas of major capital cities as Baby Boomers want to live in unit developments that are close to their current residences.”

Housing designers are finally starting to realise that life over 50 is all about the three ‘Ls’. Lifestyle, lifestyle, lifestyle. Baby boomers have more money and more choice than ever before but their options for retirement housing haven’t evolved with them.

Stereotypes remain for advanced ageing (think nursing home) where the family would put grandma when they couldn’t look after her anymore. I recall as a child being taken to one such home to visit Uncl Toby. Toby lived in a small room with a bed and single chair next to it and each day he would be moved from one to the other with nothing much in the way of stimulus. He seemed very sad and I didn't like visiting him....the smell of the home stays with me to this day.

These days retirement “resorts” are popping up all over the country boasting heated indoor pools, restaurants and games rooms. In fact there’s so much to do, you never need to leave which is maybe the idea!

John MaGrath from Equity Boost and MMJ Real Estate who provides affordable living for seniors says “as the cost of real estate soars on the eastern seaboard, we saw a need for housing options for the elderly & disabled with affordability constraints. Our development structure provides buyers with Equity in their property acquisition in most cases from day 1, due to the discounts created via our bulk purchasing power for land and construction."

Increasingly, real estate agents and developers are realising the traditional apartment block or stand-alone home on a quarter acre block doesn't work for anyone, let alone the aged. What are your thoughts when it comes to where you will live as you age? Do you have suggestions for affordable community living for our age group. I'd love to know your thoughts in feedback below. 

 

 

 

Originally posted on .

Join the conversation

FiftyUp Club
Housing Options For Fiftyups

Share your views with other members. 

Want to leave a comment? or .
Read our moderation policy here.
Someone
Someone from QLD commented:

It is scary to think about going into some type of lifestyle village. Like my mothers' villa, the exit fees are horrendous so that makes me want to stay living in my own home as we get older. 

Patricia
Patricia from NSW commented:

There should be a 'Royal Commission' into Retirement Village exit fees. As well as the Deferred Management Fee the operator wants half of any capital gain. They don't want to go halves in the cost associated with preparing a place to be sold though. After all the money a person pays to buy into a village doesn't buy the unit/villa yet they are expected to be the ones paying for preparing a place to go on the market. What a person pays for Is the right to live there. I know the operators are not a charity, but the rules are all in favour of the operator. The exit fees are to contribute to the operator's cost of past and future development - I'm sure any landlord would be pleased if the tenant made a contribution when they leave to help with future development. That's what village operators expect. 

Paul
Paul from NSW commented:

Looking at lifestyle living villages - e.g. Antegra or Mt. Gideon in Sydney's sthwest. Great homes and great deals but land leased for 99 years. What rights do residents have when contracts have a three months eviction clause if owners of land decide to sell or govt forceably acquires land? 

Someone
Someone from WA replied to Paul:

I knew someone in a village and they kept putting up the Maintenance amount and in the end she was not happy that they could do that after her buying her little house to put in it and in the end she still did not own the land it was on and another lady had to move as they decided they were selling the land and she was so upset that she had to try and find a place to move her place to and that costs moving to relocate the places so it really has to be looked at all the paper work needs to be read thoroughly. 

Comment Guidelines