MEDIA RELEASE: PC report confirms CIS research on family home as key to boosting retiree living standards

The Productivity Commission report confirms the key findings of our research: that the family home is key to boosting living standards for retirees, says Centre for Independent Studies researcher Simon Cowan.

“The report rightly notes that excluding the family home from the assets test is unfair to non-homeowners, and encourages over-investment in housing,” Mr Cowan says.

The Productivity Commission confirms the underutilisation of the home equity and the opportunities to give pensioners better living standards, he says.

“We commend the Productivity Commission’s brave call to include the home in the assets test.
The huge store of wealth in the family home ($926 billion) could be used to boost living standards and reduce pension expenditure.”

“Our economic modelling shows that including the family home in the assets test and boosting the take up of reverse mortgages could boost pensioner incomes by $14 billion and reduce pension costs by $14.5 billion.”

Simon Cowan is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, and co-author of The Age-Old Problem of Old Age: Fixing the Pension

Media Enquiries: Karla Pincott kpincott@cis.org.au 0407 716 752