Meet the retirees fighting home mortgage fees today

Homeowner Liz Buckman is downsizing from a house in Hendra to a unit closer to the city – but if she can’t get enough from the sale, the retiree will need to deal with her first ever mortgage as an owner-occupier.

“It was my first home,” Ms Buckman said – “it has been for over 20 years … [but] I haven’t really got the health to look after the house anymore.”

“I really can’t afford a mortgage, to be honest. I had to stop work because of long Covid, 15 years early; that’s 15 years of money going into my pension that didn’t happen.”

Retiree Liz Buckman is hoping the money from her house’s sale will help fund her retirement, after long Covid took her out of the workforce. Picture: Lachie Millard

Ms Buckman’s mortgage concerns have come at a time when more than one in five first homebuyers are still going to be paying off a mortgage when they retire, according to new Westpac lending data.

Meanwhile, ABS data from 2021 showed the percentage of homeowners with no mortgage between 55 and 64 years of age had almost halved from levels 20 years prior.

Ms Buckman, a former physiotherapist, moved to Australia in the early 2000s, after living in hospital accommodation with the UK’s National Health Service. After renting for a few years, her savings and inheritance were able to help her afford a home outright, bypassing the stress of a mortgage.

“My mother would insist that [my wages] had to go into a savings account,” Ms Buckman said of her time working as a teenager. “If I ever spent it on books or anything else, she used to be very upset.”

95 Gerler Rd, Hendra, was being sold by Ms Millard to help afford a unit closer to the city without being concerned about a mortgage.

“I think the government is doing a great disservice to young people to not talk about finances in school, to engender a financial understanding in a young age.”

“I’ve talked to nieces and nephews about financial management … they’ve all gone ‘Oh, I didn’t even think to know about it!’”

When Ms Buckman got Covid in 2022, the symptoms were so severe and long-lasting she was forced to retire early – leaving her with a smaller retirement fund and greater medical expenses.

Ms Buckman said extra funds would go towards her medical treatments, allowing her to keep active and healthy in her later years. Picture: Lachie Millard

“It is very costly to be constantly unwell,” she said. “I was in hospital for a month, and even at home I was falling quite a lot.”

“I was completely exhausted.”

“I used to be completely independent, I used to do everything … you can’t do all the things you wanted to, but you’ve just gotta be grateful that life could be worse.”

Ms Buckman’s three bedroom home at 95 Gerler Rd, Hendra, went to auction at 10am September 27 with Place Ascot.

Mortgage concerns are rising across the country, with one in five first homebuyers expected to still pay off a mortgage when they retire.

Agent John Allen said while a mortgage could seem intimidating at the start of your housing journey, many homeowners would pay the high prices off by upgrading and moving along the property ladder.

“Having been a mortgage specialist in the past, I have seen ebbs and flows in the way that people are dealt the blow of interest rates,” he said. “It’s daunting to look at a property and go ‘I’m going to have a 30 year loan’ – but the average home loan lasts for 5 years. People upgrade and move, and each time that gives people a financial benefit.”

“You may be 5 homes deep by the time you retire, and you’ll find you’ll have accrued a property nest egg.”

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