Policy Dialogue on Housing and Ageing

TIME

TOPIC

PRESENTING

8:30 – 9:00

Arrival and Registration

9:00 – 9:15

WELCOME REMARKS

Professor Robert Breunig, Director, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute (TTPI), The Australian National University (ANU) 

9:15 – 10:30

Session 1 – SETTING THE SCENE

Chair: Professor Robert Breunig, TTPI, ANU

• What are the salient features of the current housing market?
• Who owns, who rents?
• How does the retirement system fit with housing security and home ownership?
• Will there be more retired renters in the future?

Speakers:

Nest and Nest Egg?
Scientia Professor John Piggott, CEPAR Director, UNSW Sydney

Housing in an Ageing Australia: Nest and Nest Egg?
Rafal Chomik, CEPAR, UNSW Sydney

Commentators:

Setting the Scene Comments
Professor Judith Yates, The University of Sydney

Dr John Simon, RBA

10:30 -11:00

Morning Tea

11:00 – 12:15

Session 2 – HOUSING WITH AN AGEING DEMOGRAPHIC: INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

Chair: Dr Amanda Hosking, The Treasury

• What is happening in societies which are older than Australia’s?
• How is the issue of “affordable” housing being addressed?
• In these more mature societies, is much use being made of housing as a retirement asset through equity release? 

Speakers:

Housing with an Ageing Demographic: International Developments
Professor Christine Whitehead, London School of Economics (via video link)

Home Ownership and Housing Policies in Germany
Professor Hans Fehr, University of Wuerzburg, CEPAR

Commentators:

Brenton Philp, Department of Social Services

Luke Maguire, NSW Treasury

12:15 – 13:15

Lunch

13:15 – 14:30

Session 3 – HOUSING TRANSITIONS

Chair: Marc de Cure, Advisory Board Chair, CEPAR; Adjunct Professor and Advisory Board member, UNSW Business School; Independent Non-Executive Director, Zurich Financial Services Australia

• How do housing “careers” evolve with individual age?
• How differently do cohorts present across time, in light of population ageing?
• Who misses out, or falls out of home ownership?
• What are the gender differences?
• What are the challenges in smoothing transitions – downsizing, aged care etc.

Speakers:

Housing Transitions among Older Australians
Professor Rachel Ong ViforJ, Curtin University

Home Ownership Futures: An Alternative Approach To Measurement
Professor Peter McDonald AM, CEPAR, The University of Melbourne

Commentators:

Housing Transitions
Professor Marian Baird AO, CEPAR, The University of Sydney

Zac Hatzantonis, PwC Australia

14:30 – 15:00

Afternoon Tea

15:00 – 16:15

Session 4 – POLICY, PRACTICE AND RESEARCH: ISSUES AND RESPONSES - A PANEL SESSION

Chair: Professor Warwick McKibbin AO, CEPAR, CAMA, ANU

Panellists:

• Housing for Older Australians: Changing Capacities and Constrained Choices - Professor Julie Byles, Director Research Centre for Generational, Health and Ageing, University of Newcastle, CEPAR
• Policy, Practice and Research: Issues and Responses - Professor Michael Sherris, CEPAR, UNSW Sydney
• Ian Yates AM, COTA Australia

16:15

CLOSING REMARKS