As owning a home grows increasingly out of reach more Australians are renting for longer and even for life. A new report has found tenants across the country are willing to pay more to secure longer leases. But experts say forever renters will face more financial pressure in retirement.
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00:00Folding away clothes has become a ritual of Chris Little's life and not just because of
00:08his two young daughters.
00:09This is the fifth house I've lived in in this area in the last ten years.
00:13The 49-year-old rents in Melbourne's south east and has never been able to afford to
00:18buy a home.
00:19We just never got out of renting, never able to save enough, have enough deposit and get
00:23to that stage.
00:24More and more Australians are finding themselves stuck in a similar cycle.
00:29Census data shows across the country the proportion of renters has grown over the past
00:34decade in every age group except those aged 80 and over.
00:39Australia really is in this kind of tip over, tipping point of transition from a homeowning
00:46nation to a nation where renting needs to be a lifetime tenure.
00:52Researchers from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute asked almost 1,000
00:57renters what protections they were willing to pay for.
01:01They found the average tenant will fork out $127 extra each month for their property to
01:07be maintained above minimum standards, $72 for an indefinite lease and $77 to ensure
01:15rent prices cannot increase by more than 5% a year.
01:20As the number of lifelong renters grows, experts warn the trend could leave many without the
01:24security of home ownership and retirement, putting new pressures on Australia's retirement
01:30system.
01:31Part of that might also be increasing superannuation or welfare payments later in life to help
01:38those that don't manage outright home ownership by the time they retire.
01:42Retirement is a milestone Chris isn't too far from reaching and he's weighing up, pulling
01:47money from his super to buy a property.
01:49So I'd have a lot less to retire on, but on the other hand I'd have somewhere to live.
01:54Hoping one day he'll finally unpack for good.