Rachel Ong

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.
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

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

Mortgage stress and precarious home ownership: implications for older Australians

This research investigated the growing numbers of middle aged and older Australians who are carrying mortgage debt into retirement and paying off higher levels of debt relative to house values and income. Between 1987 and 2015, mortgage debt among older mortgagors increased by 600 per cent (from $27,000 to over $185,000).
2019

When falling home ownership and ageing baby boomers collide

Until now, the majority of older people in Australia have achieved the goal of owning their own home outright. Hence, policymakers have typically shown little concern about the size and budget costs of rental housing assistance programs for seniors.
2018

Housing equity withdrawal: Perceptions of obstacles among older Australian home owners and associated service providers

Housing wealth dominates the asset portfolios of the older population in Australia and many other countries. Given the anticipated spike in fiscal costs associated with population ageing, there is growing policy interest in housing equity withdrawal (HEW) to finance living needs in retirement.
2017
Themes:

Australian demographic trends and their implications for housing subsidies

This Positioning Paper is the first output of a project that aims to forecast future housing subsidies that will accompany projected demographic changes and the challenges these trends may pose for the fiscal sustainability of housing policy.
2015

Housing Older Australians: Loss of home ownership and pathways into housing assistance

In Australia and other ‘homeownership societies’ it has been conventional to think of housing pathways in terms of a smooth linear progression, leading to outright ownership in middle age and a retirement buffered by low housing costs. This vision of the welfare role of home ownership is an important buttress of Australian retirement incomes policy.
2015

Asset poverty, precarious housing and ontological security in older age: an Australian case study

Abstract Over two-thirds of Australians are owner-occupiers and a majority of the population holds most of their wealth in housing.
2014

Housing equity withdrawal: uses, risks, and barriers to alternative mechanisms in later life

This project uncovers the uses, risks of and barriers to housing equity withdrawal (HEW) by older home owners aged 45 years and over via three alternative mechanisms: in situ mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW), downsizing and selling up.
2013
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