How Australia's ageing population is reshaping what gets built

Australia's 65-plus population grew 80.0% between 2005 and 2024, more than double the rate of total population growth. Yet houses still made up 65.1% of new dwelling completions in 2024-25, little changed since the mid-2000s.

The clearest measurable responses so far are baseline accessibility features in relevant new homes under NCC 2022 and consolidation of the residential aged-care sector into fewer, larger facilities.

SECTION 01 · POPULATION GROWTH

How many Australians are aged 65 and over?

Australia had 4,700,531 people aged 65 and over at 30 June 2024, equal to 17.3% of the population. That share has climbed every year for two decades, up from 12.9% in 2005. In raw numbers, the 65-plus population grew by 2,088,652 people, an increase of 80.0%, while the total population grew by 7,017,525 people, an increase of 34.8%.

Australia's total population reached 27,801,023 at 31 December 2025, up 1.5% over the year. The most detailed age breakdown available is still for 30 June 2024, since single-year age data take longer to compile than headline population counts.

These projections come from the Centre for Population and are conditional scenarios based on stated assumptions about fertility, mortality and migration, not guarantees. Ageing is also unevenly distributed: in 2023-24, around 15% of capital city residents were aged 65 and over, compared with 21% outside the capitals.

SECTION 02 · AGEING BY STATE

Which Australian states and regions have the oldest populations?

Regional South Australia had the highest share of residents aged 65 and over in 2024, at 25.9%, followed by regional Tasmania at 23.8% and regional Victoria at 23.0%. Every capital city except Darwin has a younger population than the rest of its own state.

Victoria recorded the widest capital-versus-region gap: Melbourne's 65-plus share was 14.8%, compared with 23.0% across the rest of Victoria — a difference of 8.2 percentage points. Darwin was the exception: at 10.6%, it has an older population than the rest of the Northern Territory (8.1%).

Using the national 17.3% figure as a planning benchmark would understate the position in every rest-of-state region except the Northern Territory, most sharply in South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, where regional 65+ shares run five to nine percentage points above the national figure.

SECTION 03 · DOWNSIZING BEHAVIOUR

How many older Australians want to downsize, and how many actually do?

Most Australians aged 60 and over preferred to remain in their own home, according to the Productivity Commission's 2015 survey of 1,524 people, which found that 83% preferred their own home as their living arrangement. About one in five had already sold a property and bought a less expensive home since turning 50, and 15% expected to downsize into a more suitable dwelling or age-specific housing at some point.

Preliminary ATO data shows that 15,800 people made a downsizer contribution in 2024-25, with contributions totalling $4.165 billion. Since the scheme began in 2018-19, the data records 98,500 contributors and $25.255 billion in contributions. The highest year on record remains 2021-22, at 19,700 people. Contributions did not rise further once eligibility widened.

SECTION 04 · HOUSING STOCK

The mismatch between housing stock and an ageing population

Separate houses accounted for 72.3% of occupied private dwellings at the 2021 Census, down only marginally from 72.9% in 2016. The share of dwellings with four or more bedrooms rose from 32.2% to 34.8%, while three-bedroom dwellings fell from 41.1% to 39.0% — during a period when lone-person households also became more common. The average dwelling had 3.1 bedrooms in 2021, compared with an average household size of 2.5 people.

Among older couple households, 89% lived in a separate house in 2017-18, while 67% of older lone-person households did the same. Under the 2016 Census occupancy standard, 76% of older couple households and 65% of older lone-person households had at least two spare bedrooms.

SECTION 05 · AGEING IN PLACE

How ageing in place affects housing turnover and supply

Most older Australian households had remained in the same home for at least five years in 2019-20. Among households with a reference person aged 65 and over, 82.5% had not moved in the previous five years.

Among older households that had moved recently, 22.8% cited family reasons for their last move, followed closely by wanting a smaller home (22.2%) and a lifestyle change (8.3%). Low mobility can delay when larger homes reach the market, but a move by an older household does not automatically create net new supply elsewhere.

Ageing in place may also generate building activity through home modifications rather than new construction. The Support at Home programme replaced the Home Care Packages and Short-Term Restorative Care programmes from 1 November 2025, with the Assistive Technology and Home Modifications scheme providing separate funding for approved modifications.

SECTION 06 · ACCESSIBLE HOUSING

Demand for accessible and adaptable housing in Australia

More than half of Australians aged 65 and over had a disability in 2022. The rate reached 52.3%, up from 49.6% in 2018, representing 2.3 million people. The need for assistance also increased sharply with age.

Within the household group, 39.8% of older people, around 1.7 million people, needed assistance with at least one everyday activity in 2022 — most commonly property maintenance (27.3%), health care (21.4%) and household chores (19.1%).

What the Livable Housing Design Standard requires

Six jurisdictions have adopted minimum accessibility provisions for new housing under NCC 2022; New South Wales and Western Australia have not adopted them as a statewide requirement. Building ministers agreed to the standard in April 2021, based on the Silver level of the Livable Housing Design Guidelines. It requires a step-free access path and entrance, wider internal doors and corridors, an accessible toilet, a step-free shower, and wall reinforcement for future grabrails.

SECTION 07 · WHAT GETS BUILT

How Australia's ageing population is changing new housing construction

Houses remained the largest category of new dwelling completions in 2024-25, accounting for 65.1% of the combined total for houses and other residential dwellings. This was only slightly below the 67.2% recorded in 2005-06. Over the period, the house share moved considerably — falling to a low of 52.1% in 2016-17 before recovering.

The 65-plus share of the population increased steadily over two decades, while the house share of completions rose and fell before ending close to where it began. The data does not show a clear national relationship between population ageing and the broad mix of houses and other residential dwellings.

Residential aged care is the clearest form of age-specific construction

Australia had 224,493 operational residential aged-care places allocated at 30 June 2025, up from around 201,000 in 2017 — an increase of 12% over eight years. The occupancy rate was 89.9% in 2024-25. Small residential aged care services fell by 32% between 2017 and 2025, while large services rose by 37%: the sector is consolidating into fewer, bigger facilities.

What the official data shows about housing construction and ageing

The official evidence supports four findings:

• Baseline accessibility is being built into relevant new housing through NCC 2022, in the six jurisdictions that have adopted it.
• More older Australians living in households are needing assistance with everyday activities as they age.
• Residential aged care is consolidating into fewer, larger facilities.
• The national mix of new houses versus other residential dwellings remains shaped by many factors that approvals and completions data cannot separate from ageing.

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