Empty bedrooms costing Australian families $1000 weekly
Financial experts are calling for older Australians to downsize or rent out their spare rooms amid the housing crisis – but one Marshall grandmother still vows she “never” will. Here’s why.
A Marshall grandmother is refusing to downsize her four-bedroom home, choosing grandchildren’s sleepovers over $1000 a week in rental income.
Justine Martin, 54, lives alone but keeps two rooms set up for when her grandchildren visit.
One room, she said, was permanently decked out with bunks and toys.
“My grandparents lived in their own homes until well into their 90s, that’s my intention,” Ms Martin said.
“It takes a village to raise a child, and how do we do that if we’re renting out our rooms?”
While Ms Martin said she knows she could be cashing in by renting the rooms, family visits trumped the stress of any potential rental income.
“Never, never, never, never again will I rent my rooms out,” she said.
“I can understand when we have a housing shortage, but we’ve worked hard for our houses.
“I have rented out my rooms in the past, and you lose control and security in your sacred place.
“One guy still owes me more than 2,500 dollars.”
Instead, she said, the state needed more community-oriented solutions.
“Grandparents used to move in with their children if they needed to,” she said
Ms Martin is one of many Australians in this position – with analysis of the latest census data from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) finding 76.8 per cent of households had spare bedrooms.
Gareth Croy, Managing Director of Your Future Strategy, said while he understood Justine’s rental security concerns, it was an issue that a large number of older Australians were sitting in oversized properties long after the kids had left home.
Mr Croy said downsizing or renting out extra rooms could make families $1000 weekly.
“There is a lot of capital tied up in those extra rooms,” he said.
“If you’ve got a four-bedroom house and your children come home twice a year, you might be better to sell and downsize to a place with just one spare bedroom.
“That could be a very nice overseas holiday every year.
“Would you rather have two spare bedrooms and the kids come to stay once or twice a year, or have $50,000 for a family holiday every year?”
Mr Croy said renting two rooms each week could bring in thousands of dollars for retirees, and downsizing could free up more homes for those struggling to buy in the current economy.
“There’s obviously a housing crisis, and this may be part of the solution,” he said.
Originally published as Empty bedrooms costing Australian families $1000 weekly
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