Averting Poverty and Government Budgetary Pressure Through Releasing Home Equity: A Safe and Informed Solution for Baby Boomer Homeowners

Homeowner baby boomers have relatively high levels of wealth in their homes and relatively low levels of superannuation. At the same time, non-homeowner baby boomers, especially lone retirees, appear to be in increasing need of income support such as that provided by the Age Pension. Both of these groups will need income support mechanisms during their retirement. In this context, policy momentum has been building in Australia for the inclusion of home equity in the retirement income mix. To address that need, this paper outlines a generation-targeted solution for supplementing baby boomer retiree income through efficiently drawing on housing equity. The proposed new product – Home Equity Accounts – differs from existing related products by being government-backed, securitised and incorporating financial planning.