Boomers still paying off home loans
More baby boomers are heading towards retirement with a home loan still hanging over their heads, according to an Adelaide University demographer. Analysis of census data revealed the number of Australians who own their own homes outright had significantly dropped.
More baby boomers are heading towards retirement with a home loan still hanging over their heads, according to an Adelaide University demographer.
Analysis of census data revealed the number of Australians who own their own homes outright had significantly dropped in the past decade, with many still paying off their loans.
Professor Graeme Hugo told AAP: “In 2001, 41% of the population actually owned the house they were living in, but it was down to less than a third by 2011, it was down to 32%.”
He claimed more people were renting and mortgages are taking longer to pay off, adding the number of people still purchasing their house increased from 27% in 2001 to 35% in 2011.
Professor Hugo was particularly interested in the baby boomer data which revealed the rate of people in their early 60s who have paid off the bank dropped to almost 75% to just over 50%.
“When we’re talking about people staying in the workforce longer and putting off retirement and so on, we tend to think of it in terms of people putting away for retirement and accumulating savings,” he said. “In fact, a quarter of them are still paying off their mortgage,” he added.
