These days, home is just a cash cow
By Adele Horin
If baby boomers expect to inherit the parental home they should think again. Their elderly parents are likely to sell the home to fund a new retirement lifestyle that leaves little for the children.
New research shows older people have surprisingly little emotional attachment to the family home. And they are prepared to use up their most valuable asset in pursuit of enjoyment and good health care.
"They have taken on the values of their baby-boomer children and believe they deserve to put themselves first," said Diana Olsberg, a researcher.
The research, based on responses from 7000 Australian home owners over 50, provides the most comprehensive account to date of older people's housing intentions. Two-thirds of the respondents were 60 and over.
It dispels the notion that older people want to stay put and are resistant to change. A surprising one in three had moved in the previous five years, and one in three said they expected to move in the future.
Many had moved to a "warmer place" or for "better recreational facilities", and many had moved to live closer to friends. They were more attached to a location than to the family home.
Dr Olsberg, the director of the University of NSW Research Centre on Ageing and Retirement, said instead of stability the elderly wanted flexibility, and the home was the key to choices.
"After years of hard work they believe they have earned the right to enjoy the fruits of their labours in any way they choose," she said.
Yet they were not motivated entirely by selfishness. Some said they had provided their grown-up children with a good deal of financial help. Many were concerned to have money for the health care they might need in a user-pays system.
Dr Olsberg said better reverse mortgage products were needed so the elderly did not need to sell the family home. She will present the project's preliminary findings at the National Speakers Series in Sydney next week.
Later next month the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, which commissioned the research, will release the full report, called Ageing in Place: Inter-Generational and Intrafamilial Housing Transfers and Shifts in Later Life.
Source: SMH.com.au
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