The Federal Budget is released tonight and with the Labor government leaking several major announcements, it appears helping retirees is off the list.
The Retirement Living Council (RLC) last Tuesday released a new report “Removing Rightsizing Roadblocks: Homes for all Australians”, which wants to increase the Age Pension asset test threshold and have Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) eligibility available for retirement living as it is for land lease communities.
The report proposes to:
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Allow single homeowners who 'rightsize' to own assets of up to $550,000 before their Age Pension income is reduced, with an equivalent increase to the threshold for couples. The current threshold is $314,000 for singles; and
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Remove the incoming purchase price threshold for Age Pensioners who 'rightsize' into retirement villages to allow access to CRA payments, consistent with eligibility applicable to residents in other seniors' communities (land lease and manufactured home estates). Currently the cap is $252,000.
Executive Director Daniel Gannon said there had been a 600% increase in capital city median house prices over a 30-year period from 1994 to 2024, while the allowable assets to receive a full Age Pension increased by just 178% for a single homeowner and 193% for a couple.
"This shows that increases in Age Pension assets have failed to take into account the high level of asset wealth many older Australians now hold in their home," he said.
"This has the unintended consequence of discouraging 'asset rich, cash poor' older Australians from 'rightsizing' into more suitable housing.”
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