A new national survey has revealed many midlife Australians will carry home‑loan debt into retirement.
New research from AMP, produced with retirement platform Citro, has found that a substantial slice of Generation X expects to still be paying down their mortgage after they stop full‑time work.
The State of Gen X Australia report draws on a survey of more than 1,000 Australians in their 40s, 50s, and early 60s.
When asked whether they expected to have a mortgage at retirement, 44 per cent said they did not, 30 per cent said they would, and 26 per cent were unsure.
AMP said that a growing number of middle-aged borrowers were resigned to heading into retirement with more debt than previous generations.
“Retirement is increasingly viewed with uncertainty rather than optimism, and it persists across income levels,” it said.
Yet breaking the responses down by income shows that the pattern isn’t confined to lower earners.
Among those on less than $75,000 a year and those earning between $75,000 and 100,000 a year, about two‑thirds expect to still have a mortgage when they retire.
Three in five people on $125,000–$200,000 a year expect their loan to outlast their working life, while even at incomes between $200,000 and 300,000, one in two respondents believes they would still have a mortgage at retirement.
AMP links these findings directly to rising stress among existing home owners.
“Housing costs and debt burdens are contributing to growing anxiety among Gen X home owners about carrying mortgage debt into retirement,” it said.
The report also asked Gen X how they felt about their overall situation.
One in three said they were simply managing as opposed to flourishing: 27 per cent described themselves as coping, 23 per cent felt exhausted, 21 per cent felt unsure about where they were headed, and 19 per cent said they felt stretched.
On retirement savings, AMP measured respondents’ super balances against the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia’s benchmark for a “comfortable” lifestyle in retirement, with the analysis revealing around seven in 10 Gen X Australians were on track to fall short of that standard.
Three in five expect to remain in the workforce longer than they would ideally like, and one in two are unsure about their ability to remain employable over the coming decade.
Shane Oliver: Real wages and housing crunch collide
AMP head of investment strategy and chief economist Dr Shane Oliver said the survey results reflected how macro‑economic headwinds had collided with the most financially demanding phase of life.
“One of the most important factors shaping Gen X outcomes is that real wages remain materially lower than they were five years ago, despite recent nominal wage growth. The surge in inflation following the pandemic significantly eroded purchasing power, and it will take many years for that lost ground to be fully recovered,” Oliver said.
“For Generation X, this matters more than for most cohorts. These are peak expense years – when mortgages are largest, children are still financially dependent, and caring responsibilities extend simultaneously to ageing parents and family members. The result has been sustained financial compression, not temporary adjustment.”
Oliver also pointed squarely to housing as an amplifier of this pressure, saying that mortgage costs had risen quickly and that structural shortages were keeping property prices and rents elevated.
“Housing pressures have compounded this experience. Interest rate increases have been both rapid and substantial, lifting mortgage payments sharply,” he said.
“At the same time, Australia continues to face a structural shortage of housing supply, keeping both purchase prices and rents elevated.”
[Related: Young Aussies reset the rules of money, ING finds]
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make The Adviser a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add The Adviser as a preferred news source.
