At a glance…
- Research from Super Consumers Australia has found that older Australians who rent their homes need twice as much superannuation to comfortably live in retirement.
- A typical single retiree paying rent would need $659,000 in super, compared to $322,000 for a homeowner.
- Rising rents across the country are compounding the issue.
- The advocacy group is calling on the government to intervene by increasing rental assistance in line with rising rents.
A new report has sounded the alarm on what consumer advocates are calling a “retirement disaster” for older Australians who rent. The report reveals that older Australians who rent need twice as much superannuation as homeowners to enjoy the same standard of living in their later years.
Super Consumers Australia has crunched the numbers, and for renters, they simply don’t add up. Older Australians who rent face significantly higher rates of financial stress and poverty than those who retire in a home they own outright.
According to the report, a typical single retiree who rents would need $659,000 in super to retire comfortably, more than double the $322,000 required by a homeowner. For couples, the picture is similarly stark: renting couples need $786,000 combined, while homeowning couples need just $432,000.
The high cost of housing means retirees who rent must spend 30 to 47 per cent more than homeowners for the same quality of life.
“Telling renters to simply ‘save more’ isn’t the solution to this problem,” says Xavier O’Halloran, CEO of Super Consumers Australia. “Renters are at a real risk of retirement disaster if the Government doesn’t act.”
“Long-term solutions need to focus on getting more people into affordable housing. But we’ve got a crisis facing retirees right now. Commonwealth Rent Assistance has not kept pace with actual rents.”
In June 2025, more than 325,000 Age Pensioners received Commonwealth Rent Assistance. However, 32 per cent (105,000) were still in rental stress, spending more than a third of their income on rent even after support.
The gap between rent assistance and real-world rents continues to widen. A single person currently receives $5,600 per year in rent assistance, yet typical annual rent costs sit around $19,700 or more. While Rent Assistance rose just 2 per cent between September 2024 and September 2025, rents jumped 4.5 per cent in the same period.
Housing for the Aged Action Group CEO Fiona York says the retirement divide will only deepen without major policy reform.
“The Australian retirement system is built on the expectation that older people will own a home at the time of retirement; however, there has been a 73% increase over ten years in the number of older renters. Living in expensive and poor-quality homes is impacting the health and well-being of older renters, and preventing their ability to age well and with dignity.”
“We need to address this retirement divide by building more public and community housing, reforming housing-related tax concessions, cap rent increases to no more than CPI, and raising the rate of income support payments.”
