Why helping downsizers is the key to unlocking millions of empty bedrooms

ANALYSIS When people talk about the housing crisis, it’s always about how we can get first home buyers into the market. But what about getting last home buyers out of the market? I’m talking about empty nesters sitting in their family homes, full of unused bedrooms. There are approximately 13 million empty bedrooms in Australia, according to data from the last Census. Breaking it down, about 3.2 million homes have one spare bedroom, 3 million homes have two spare bedrooms and 1.2 million homes have three or more spare bedrooms. A sizeable chunk of the latter two categories must surely be empty nesters. What a difference it would make to the demand and supply ratio of the housing market if millions of bedrooms were activated. MORE:Shock $2170 missing from average Aus savings accounts Want these guys to downsize? We’ve got to make it worth their while. But it’s unfair to blame empty nesters for all the affordability woes of the other generations of home buyers. It’s not as if downsizing is the easiest, cheapest, or most desirable thing to do. First of all, we’re asking them to farewell their home of many years. Some have lived their whole adult lives in them. We’re then asking them t...