Time to downsize?

Understanding the supply of additional bedrooms in Australian households

Where are the Australian residents who can afford to downsize their homes?

The 2021 federal budget has focused on helping single parents and first homebuyers get onto the property ladder. This included extending access to the superannuation contribution scheme, which aims to incentivise Australian’s nearing retirement to downsize in order to free up homes for young families. Currently those aged over 60 can contribute an extra $300,000 into their superannuation if they downsize.

But which regions have the greatest supply of spare bedrooms? Housing suitability data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests that regions surrounding capital cities have the greatest number of spare bedrooms per household. This is evidenced in regions surrounds the cities of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, which recorded more than 1.5 spare bedrooms on average in 2016.

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