The Facts on Retirement Living

More than 184,000 senior Australians call a retirement village home and according to the most recent survey, an overwhelming majority are happier than they were before they made the move.

Executive Director of Retirement Living at the Property Council Ben Myers recently published the following article:

"the most recent comprehensive survey of more than 5000 of these residents in 2013 found more than 90 per cent reported their social life has improved or stayed the same, and 90 per cent believed their move had been a good financial decision.

Of recent purchasers, 83 per cent regarded their fees as “moderately reasonable” to “very reasonable”, and 70 per cent said their cost of living was the same or less than their previous family home.

If they had their time over to make the same choice to move, 98 per cent said they would do it – an overwhelming majority who are not represented in these 4 Corners or Fairfax stories.

We also know from our other research that:

• The average entry price into a retirement village remains under $400,000, which is on average 67 per cent of the median house price in the same postcode;
• Village residents on average live independently for five years longer than residents in the general community.

We encourage people to use our industry fact sheets, which can be found at www.retirementliving.org.au/factsheets. We have also prepared additional documents for member operators including letters and FAQs for residents; please contact us if you would like to access and use these documents.

These are the facts on retirement living we will continue to communicate to the media and the wider public, and we encourage you to communicate to industry colleagues and residents. "