Surprise Aussies filling up sharehouses
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Steve Beardon (left) has moved into a houseshare at age 64.
Older Australians grappling with the cost of living and unaffordable home prices have been increasingly turning to sharehouses – often well into their sixties.
It comes as data from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute showed an estimated 440,000 older households will be unable to find or afford suitable housing by 2031.
AHURI estimates around two million older Australians are looking for alternative housing.
This is expected to have significance for retirement as owning a house outright is a key predictor for financial stability in the twilight years of someone’s life.
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Steve Beardon currently works as a bus driver on short contracts. Pictures: Supplied
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Sharehousing has jumped in popularity for Australians aged between 55 and 64 with a survey from Flatmates.com.au showing a six per cent increase from 2024 to 2025 – this was the highest rise among any age group.
Steve Beardon is a 64-year-old who rents a sharehouse in Sydney.
He said he had looked at moving to cheaper outer suburbs but found road tolls, less jobs and underdeveloped infrastructure were major drawbacks and he preferred a houseshare instead.
He currently shares a home in Bankstown, which he lives in for six to nine months a year, spending the rest of the year on a property in Yarrawonga, on the Victorian-NSW border.
“What I found was, there’s a lot of casual work and a lot of contract work (in Sydney), so you can take it, but then you need somewhere to live where you’re up here … and that’s where Flatmates comes in,” Mr Beardon said, adding that he uses the platform flatmates.com.au to find properties he can rent.
“I tend to just put my ad there and (people) contact me,” Mr Beardon said.
“People are very friendly (in Sydney) and they don’t really care where you come from.
“I mean once the young blokes get to know you, they ask about dating and I go ‘well, you know, I might be older but it doesn’t mean I know any more than you!’,” he said.
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Steve Beardon and his housemate Sandy. Picture: Supplied
Mr Beardon said he doesn’t want to retire in Yarrawonga but selling his property would leave him with too little cash “to buy something decent” after taxes and agent commission.
“I’ll retire there. I have no choice really,” Mr Beardon said.
“I don’t think the government realises, but that’s another reason why there’s a shortage of property on the market, I mean it’s just too expensive to sell.
“The house is worth more than the money it’ll get you (if you sell),” he said.
AHURI survey data showed 26 per cent of people over the age of 55 had downsized and 29 per cent were considering it.
To combat part of this problem, the South Australian government introduced an exemption on stamp duty for over 60s moving into new builds earlier this year. Similarly, the ACT phased out stamp duty in favour of a universal land tax. NSW and Victoria, which have the highest stamp duty charges, have yet to announce similar incentives.
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Mr Beardon spent time as a garbage truck driver and said he hated Sydney’s tiny, car filled streets. Picture: Supplied
Mr Beardon said he has lived across Sydney’s western suburbs in Campbelltown, Blair Athol, Yagoona, St Clair and Liverpool.
“People aren’t going to relocate to an area that’s just house after house like they’ve done in Victoria, you need to have jobs out there,” Mr Beardon said.
“(The government has) got to build satellite cities and put the facilities in first, not last, and they have to make sure there’s no toll road to get there,” he said.
AHURI found roughly one in two Aussies think mid-sized cities are “excellent” places to retire and would move if there was appropriate support for healthcare and home ownership.
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Mr Beardon typically lives with people in their 40s. Picture: Supplied
For anyone considering sharehousing, Mr Beardon suggests being flexible.
“You can’t go in there with your fixed attitude,” Mr Beardon said.
“You’re sharing with complete strangers, and they’ve all got along with each other, so you know, responsibility is on yourself to be a little bit flexible as well.
“There’s lot you can learn from other people, especially different cultures as interesting learning how other people in other countries live and everything and why they think it’s so good here,” he said.
He said to remember to consider peoples routines, personalities, proximity to transport or shops and “when they interview you, you’re actually interviewing them as well.”