The Property Council has just released a survey which says the average cost of a two bedroom retirement village home in Australia is $385,000.
That sounds like a bargain to me, especially when you consider their survey average included $1 million penthouses in Sydney and Melbourne.
Also this week, one of our largest village operators, Aveo, informed us their average village home is $267,000 (including serviced apartments) while at Lend Lease, with 14,200 units across the country, the average is $365,000.
We did some checking
In the prestige suburb of Bayview, in Sydney, you can buy a two-bedroom village apartment for $370,000 while next door a similar apartment will be $650,000.
In Erina, on the NSW Central Coast, a non prestige two bedroom village villa can range from $200-$280,000 while over the fence the same product starts at $350,000.
Average monthly fees
The same Property Council survey reports the average monthly service fee is $434 or $5,208 per year. This covers all but contents insurance and power to the home and in some states council rates. Relative to a family home or even most apartments with body corporate fees, this is lower drain on the family budget.
If you are paying $434 this takes 23 per cent of the full Single Pension ($860 per fortnight/$1,865 per month). For couples it’s 16 per cent of the pension ($1,296 per fortnight/$2,808 per month).
With no major financial hits like broken hot water systems, repainting the house or weekly gardeners, villages start to really deliver on economy.
What do you think?
