Looking for a pet-friendly retirement property?

Did you know 61% of people searching for a retirement village or other type of over 55's property are looking for pet-friendly accommodation?

A recent survey of 1,000 visitors to the Seniors Housing Online website showed 38.4% considered "pets allowed" to be an essential criteria when searching for a retirement village or other type of senior property; a further 22.7% said it was desirable; while only 39% said it was not a factor in their search.  This means that more than 17,000 people each month are using the website to search for pet friendly properties!

We've set up a quick link so you can immediately locate pet-friendly retirement properties in every Australian state. See the article and link on the Seniors Housing Online News page.

What sort of accommodation do seniors want?

Seniors Housing Online, Australia’s leading retirement living website welcomes the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) research findings that many seniors want larger homes during their retirement than has previously been assumed.

The AHURI report on “How well do older Australians utilize their homes?” confirms what our website surveys are already telling us – 85% of seniors searching for retirement property want two or more bedrooms. We have more than 20,000 seniors a month searching the website for retirement accommodation to buy or rent, and the reality is that while people may want to downsize the mortgage or access their equity in the family home, they don’t actually want to downsize their lifestyle in retirement.

They want enough space and facilities to be able to enjoy their retirement, and when they spend more time at home they need to be able to accommodate home based activities and visiting family and friends comfortably.

The benefits of downsizing to age specific housing include the security of knowing support services are available in the future should they be needed, as well as providing a resort-style environment, a sense of community and security and freedom from household chores and property maintenance.

Our surveys show seniors are overwhelmingly looking for independent living, with 75% saying this is essential and 21% saying it is desirable. 80% want a village setting; 67% a clubhouse or recreation centre; 59% a swimming pool and 49% a gym. 88% still want garages and parking spaces; and 58% want pet-friendly accommodation.

People are even prepared to move away from family and friends to achieve a better lifestyle in retirement at a price point they can afford, with 43% saying remaining in the same area doesn’t matter; 35% saying it is desirable and only 22% considering it essential.

These are the factors influencing housing choices which need to be recognized by government and private developers to cater for the babyboomer generation as they retire from full time work.

For more see http://www.seniorshousingonline.com.au/