Sea and tree changes dominate top retirement hotspots
Lifestyle factors are attracting retirees to these hotspots, and housing affordability is increasingly important | SEE THE TOP 20 LIST
Australia’s best retirement locations have been revealed – and not one of the top 10 is within 20km of a capital city.
A report released on Thursday by AMP-backed fintech company Citro ranks Orange in NSW at the best spot for retirees, followed by Rosebud in Victoria and Wagga Wagga in NSW.
Three of the top five destinations are from NSW, says Citro, which assessed locations based on housing affordability and availability, transport options, healthcare access, lifestyle factors, and data from its 280,000 customers aged over 50.
Orange’s median dwelling price of $665,917 compares favourably with Sydney’s $1.2m, and the Citro report says the town, 255km from Sydney, has beautiful parks, a small community vibe and one of the largest regional hospitals in NSW.
Rosebud, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, is 75km from Melbourne and has a median dwelling price of $769,805, a strong social community, coastal walks, and a hospital.
Citro managing director Toby Ellis said housing affordability and availability were key factors in shaping the top locations, and this brought popular regional towns into play.
“Three in five Australians over 40 are worried about affording their retirement, which is not a great position to be in,” he said.
“One in three Australians over 50 are considering relocating, and four out of 10 downsizers are moving to regional areas.”
Mr Ellis said people were downsizing homes to free up equity “but they don’t want to downsize their lifestyle”.
Citro’s top-ranked retirement locations list changes annually, based on evolving housing and infrastructure factors. Armidale was top last year, and is now ranked 15th.
“It’s still a beautiful community but the perils of being popular mean that things like housing availability changes, which then changes housing affordability, and as a result by our metrics that shifts the sand a little bit,” Mr Ellis said.
Apart from Orange in NSW and Rosebud in Victoria, Citro found the top-ranked locations in other states and territories were:
• Golden Beach, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast
• Mandurah, WA’s second-largest city, 72km south of Perth
• Greenwith, a suburb 23km from Adelaide’s CBD
• Launceston in Tasmania
• Fannie Bay, a Darwin suburb
• Belconnen in the ACT
Mr Ellis said people thinking about relocating for retirement should spend time discussing and examining it well in advance.
“Go on holiday there four times a year, build networks, join the local golf club, start to lay down some foundations, so you can make sure it’s the right decision for you,” he said.
Real estate research group Cotality’s research director Tim Lawless said a recent report by the Regional Australia Institute highlighted strong migration patterns to the Sunshine Coast, Geelong, Lake Macquarie, Maitland and the Fraser Coast.
“There’s a real commonality across these locations in that they have some sort of lifestyle appeal, and they generally have lower price points than the capital cities, although in the Sunshine Coast it’s becoming scarce to find affordable housing,” he said.
Delivering enough housing supply was an issue, Mr Lawless said, with capital cities struggling and regions finding it even harder amid logistical and workforce challenges.
“The growing pains of increased population growth may take some time to address,” he said.
Mr Lawless said most popular regional lifestyle locations were commutable back to a city and had good healthcare, social opportunities and shopping facilities.
“You’re not going to find many retirees moving to areas that don’t have a minimum level of healthcare and social opportunities,” he said.
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said access to amenities became increasingly important for retirees. “People tend to underestimate how important access to healthcare is, particularly if you’re just retired and you’re 65 and you’re perfectly healthy, and then as you get older you find you don’t have the medical facilities that you actually need,” Dr Oliver said.
“So, initially there could be a tendency to prioritise the location in terms of lifestyle, but that may become an issue as you get older.”
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