Recent figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics have indicated an aging population, as the first members of the so-called baby boom generation reach retirement age.
However, while there may now be some 37,500 more Australians above the age of 65 than there were this time last year, that doesn’t mean to say that these people are happy to live out their days quietly in their own homes.
Perhaps surprisingly, an analysis of Census data shows that these baby boomers are in fact dipping into their mortgages more than ever before to pay for their lifestyles, as priorities seem to have shifted towards enjoying life rather than acquiring the security of full home ownership, ABC News reports.
Graeme Hugo of Adelaide University says that the proportion of people in their 60s who have paid off their mortgage has dropped from around three quarters to just over half in the past decade, as the overall number of people in Australia who own their own home outright fell from 41 per cent to 32 per cent.
