Australia’s untapped $3 trillion secret for retirees
Publication Date: Wednesday, 17 June 2026
This article originally appeared in Ausbiz.
Australians aged 55 and over hold an estimated $3 trillion in home equity, highlighting a significant opportunity to unlock property wealth through home equity release solutions. According to Yardley, leveraging this equity can help improve cash flow, retirement planning, and ease ongoing cost-of-living pressures.
She noted that many older Australians are asset-rich but cash-poor, with substantial value tied up in their homes. This equity can be used more strategically through solutions such as reverse mortgages, which are specifically designed for older homeowners. Unlike traditional loans, reverse mortgages generally do not require regular repayments. Instead, interest is added to the loan balance, which is typically repaid when the homeowner sells the property, moves into long-term care, or passes away.
Reverse mortgages can play a key role in supporting retirement income strategies. They can help boost cash flow, bridge gaps before accessing superannuation or the Age Pension, and provide additional funds to enhance overall household wealth management.
Yardley also highlighted important consumer protections, including:
- The right to remain in the home
- No negative equity
- A requirement for independent legal advice
Common uses for released funds include home renovations, debt consolidation, medical and aged care expenses, vehicle purchases, supporting family members, and even assisting with property investment opportunities.
To learn more about flexible equity release options, visit: Reverse Mortgage (ages 55+) | Brighten
Transcript
Andrew Geoghegan
Australians over 55 are sitting on a staggering $3 trillion in home equity, yet most see the family home as a frozen asset that can only be unlocked by selling or downsizing. But as cost of living pressures bite and retirement stretch longer, that old playbook is being rewritten. To break it down; Sharon Yardley is joining us from Brighten. Sharon, welcome. Many householders are in that dilemma they’re asset rich but cash poor. Is there a solution to that?
Sharon Yardley
Well, there definitely is. And as you said, there’s $3 trillion of home equity in the market and only $6 billion is being accessed through home equity release. And a great option is reverse mortgages, which is what I’m here to talk to you about today.
Andrew Geoghegan
All right, tell us how that works.
Sharon Yardley
Absolutely. So, a reverse mortgage is just like a normal home loan, but designed for people who are 55 years and older. The main difference is that there’s no income servicing. Instead of that, if you don’t pay the interest every month, the interest is added onto the loan monthly. The total loan is only payable when the last person who’s listed on the loan as a borrower moves into long-term care, passes away or sells the property.
Andrew Geoghegan
How does that compare with just taking out a larger mortgage if you already had one on the property?
Sharon Yardley
I suppose one of the main differences firstly is that you don’t have to make repayments so that there isn’t any income servicing. You have a greater and improved cash flow in terms of income. So, what we’re seeing now is a lot of people are using it for income smoothing. You can access a reverse mortgage from 55. You can’t access your super or your age pension until you’re in your 60s. So, you can use it to draw home equity before you can access those other pension options. And on top of that, you can use it to top up your pension, to support your super and to use a whole of household wealth strategy rather than just looking at savings, investments and the age pension.
Andrew Geoghegan
Do you feel as though the outlook has changed, particularly in the wake of the budget?
Sharon Yardley
I really do think it’s changed. With the recent budget and also the changes to superannuation in the past year, the only thing that hasn’t been tinkered with at all is the family home. It’s most people’s largest asset and they’ve paid the majority of it off when they get to retirement. As you’ve mentioned at the beginning, it is often thought of as illiquid, as sitting there, but it’s not. Most people have a large amount of equity tied up in it. They’re asset rich, potentially cash poor, and they have that available to them, and they don’t need to sell their house to access those funds.
Andrew Geoghegan
There are some concerns about reverse mortgages, or at least some people have had reservations about that. What would they be? What are the potential risks? What do you need to consider?
Sharon Yardley
Well, I suppose the risk firstly is that the loan does grow. There is compounding interest. So, the first thing to consider when you’re looking at a reverse mortgage is only borrowing what you need when you need it. So that’s the first thing. The second thing is that there have been some concerns previously, but there are protections built into regulation on every product in the market. And they include you being able to live in your home for as long as you choose, lifetime loan, you choose when you sell, you choose when you move. The next one is that there’s a no negative equity guarantee, and that means that your kids won’t be in debt, your beneficiaries won’t be in debt. The most that the loan value can compound up to is the total net sale proceeds of the property, that market value in the end, so your kids are never in debt. You’re also required to get independent legal advice, so you have someone independent talking you through all of that and you get to see those projections of equity. They get given to you, so you can see how the loan grows and changes over time, as well as how your property value can change as well.
Andrew Geoghegan
And who is eligible for it?
Sharon Yardley
Who is eligible? Well the Brighten product is one of the best on market and you can access it from age 55 if you own a residential property. The LVR is low because of that compounding interest. You don’t want to eat up all your equity so you can access 15% of the LVR at that time. It goes up by 1% every year so as you get older you can access more. For us it’s until the age of 95, you can access a 55% LVR and it’s the same as you get older, up to 55% LVR. If you own a residential property, own your own home. you can access a reverse mortgage.
Andrew Geoghegan
Sharon, what do you find that people are actually in need of funds for at the moment? Why would they want or need to access a reverse mortgage?
Sharon Yardley
Look, I’ve been in the reverse mortgage market for 22 years and historically people are accessing it for home improvements and to consolidate debt so that they can improve their cash flow. But what we’re also seeing is on top of that, people not just drawing funds at the beginning, but drawing funds as they need for income smoothing like I was mentioning before for medical, aged care, health care to support, paying for a car, even helping the kids, a bit of bank and mum and dad gifting in there or even to help purchase a property they don’t have quite enough to purchase that home they need in their 50s, 60s or 70s.
Andrew Geoghegan
As you say, obviously you need to consult financial advice, but is there perhaps a decision to be made as to whether you go down that path or whether you sort of start tapping your super depending on where you’re at in the retirement cycle?
Sharon Yardley
Absolutely, and it can be looked at as I like to call it, and I’ve read about this as well, the whole of your household balance sheet strategy. So, you should be looking at how reverse mortgage fits, how you can draw that down over time so that compounding interest is minimized as much as possible. You can decide when you draw your super, how you draw your super and how the age pension comes into play as well. So it’s about balancing all of those things to get the best outcome for you as you get older in retirement and also before retirement and transitioning to retirement as well.
Andrew Geoghegan
So, for those retirees maybe watching who feel as though they’re in that tight position at the moment then, what do they need to do?
Sharon Yardley
Well, Brighten has a website. We have a great product on there. You can talk to your mortgage broker. We are accredited with the majority of mortgage brokers in Australia and they can help you go through the application process to really understand the product, how it works; so you can decide whether that’s right for you.