Downsizing enters the expanding over-50's market with its retirement real estate portal

A company which has helped millions of Australians search for retirement property since 2003 has today announced a new brand and website and a marketplace expansion to help its clients reach Australia’s booming over 50's downsizer market. 

Downsizing.com.au is the new brand of the company founded as Seniors Housing Online by NSW-based sisters-in-law Catherine and Amanda Graham. 

The new initiatives follow a period of rapid growth, with the company recording a 116 percent increase in property listing views and a 36.6 percent increase in buyer inquiries submitted about listed properties between June 2018 and June 2019. 

The company’s advertisers to date have included the biggest and most reputable retirement developers in Australia, such as Lendlease, Stockland, Aveo, Ingenia and Hometown Australia. 

"The changes we are announcing today cement our position as Australia’s number one destination for all over 50's property," said Amanda Graham, Co-CEO of Downsizing.com.au. 

"This includes our traditional and continuing focus on retirement property, such as retirement villages and land lease communities, but also now our expansion into listing all downsizer-friendly homes, such as general apartments and villas. 

"We are making this change because baby boomers are doing things differently and want to look for a wide range of accommodation options. 

“Baby boomers are downsizing with vastly higher lifestyle expectations and greater freedom of choice than prior generations. When you downsize today, you aren't scaling down your life so much as setting yourself up for a happy and fulfilling future. 

“What’s more, research shows that downsizers are the one group that has continued to buy and sell during the real estate slump. Many are sitting on real estate gains of more than 400 percent, so can buy a new home and also put some of the downsizing windfall into their super.” 

The company has launched a refreshed, mobile-ready website, with a new online newsroom that the company plans to make into Australia's most trusted source of news and advice about retirement living and downsizing. 

Experienced journalist Mark Skelsey, the former State Political Reporter and Urban Affairs Editor for the Daily Telegraph, has been named Editor. 

The company has also launched weekly newsletters for New South Wales and the ACT, Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria and Tasmania, and South Australia and the Northern Territory. Sponsored content and featured listing opportunities are available across each one of these newsletters. 

The company has also launched a new sponsored social media boost product, for listings hosted on its site. 

Market Opportunity 

• Many older Australians are sitting on substantial wealth to fund their downsizing purchase. They have seen the value of their homes grow 412 percent over the last 25 years alone. 
• The Productivity Commission in 2015 found that one in five older Australians have downsized by selling their property and purchased a less expensive home since turning 50, and about 5 percent have sold and moved to renting. 
• Of the older homeowners who have not yet downsized, about 15 percent have strong intentions to do so.¹ 
• There have never been more Australians in the downsizing age group, and the population is set to continue expanding throughout the rest of this century. In June 2018, some 8.3 million Australians were aged 50 and over, 11 percent more than the 7.51 million five years earlier. 
• The number of Australians aged 65 and over now comprise 15 percent of the population. That is a historic high and is up from 9 percent in 1977 and 5 percent in 1927. By 2057, there will be 8.8 million older people in Australia, making up 22 percent of the total population. By 2097, 12.8 million people or 25 percent of Australians will be aged 65 and over.

^{1 Productivity Commission, Housing Decisions of Older Australians, 2015, page 7} 

SOURCE Downsizing.com.au

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