By Michael Yardney January 14, 2026

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How Australia Is Changing: Richer, Older, Lonelier And Why It Matters More Than You Think

Michael Yardney's Commentary
How Australia Is Changing: Richer, Older, Lonelier And Why It Matters More Than You Think

Key takeaways

Incomes have risen by over 20% in the past 20 years, but essential costs, such as housing, childcare, insurance, and education, have risen even faster. Combined with bracket creep, many Australians feel squeezed despite earning more on paper.

Young families face the double hit of high rents/mortgages and expensive childcare. Many would like more children but feel financially unable to.

Time poverty is also driving demand for convenience services like cleaning, food delivery, and childcare.

Longer lifespans, rising living costs, insufficient retirement savings (especially for renters), and the shift to knowledge work all mean retirement is being pushed well beyond 65. Older workers staying in the workforce also reshape housing and labour markets.

While AI will automate paperwork and boost productivity, most major sectors—aged care, childcare, healthcare, construction, hospitality, retail—still require human labour. With a 20-year infrastructure backlog, migration and upskilling remain essential.

Older Australians are delaying downsizing, young buyers enter the market later, household sizes are shrinking, loneliness is rising, and construction can’t keep up. Combined with strong migration, this structural undersupply will continue to fuel property price growth.

Australia isn’t just changing. It’s quietly flipping the script on how we live, work, connect and build wealth.

On paper, we’re richer than we’ve ever been. Wages, household balance sheets and lifetime asset values have climbed impressively over the past two decades.

But dig past the headlines, and a different story emerges, one that most Australians feel in their everyday lives.

We’re ageing faster than many realise. Our median age is climbing, and the share of older Australians is rising sharply as more people live longer and birth rates stay low.

Fact is, this shift reshapes everything - our labour force, retirement systems, housing markets and social structures.

Meanwhile, the way we connect with each other is evolving in ways that don’t show up in GDP figures.

Loneliness and social disconnection are climbing even as digital connectivity explodes - a paradox that touches on wellbeing, productivity and community cohesion.

On our latest episode of Demographics Decoded podcast, I sat down with Simon Kuestenmacher to unpack the latest HILDA Report, one of Australia’s richest long-term data sources which discusses these trends.

It tracks household incomes, labour participation, wellbeing, spending, family structures, and social attitudes over more than 20 years.

In this show we go beyond the headlines to understand the why behind the statistics and what it means if you’re investing, planning for retirement, raising a family, or trying to make sense of where Australia is headed next.

How Australia is Changing: Richer, Older, Lonelier

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For weekly insights subscribe to the Demographics Decoded podcast, where we will continue to explore these trends and their implications in greater detail.

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Yes, Australians are earning more, but we’re feeling worse off

On the surface, the past two decades appear to be a financial success story.

The HILDA data shows incomes have risen substantially, and adjusted for inflation, Australians are far wealthier than they were in the early 2000s.

But that’s not how people feel. In fact, many Australians feel like they’re slipping backwards, and Simon explains why:

“You do not live in 2001 dollars… You live in 2026 prices."

The essentials have outpaced wage growth:

Housing is the biggest culprit. Prices and rents have outstripped incomes for 20+ years. Even after the dip in 2022, the long-term trend is unambiguous: housing has become more expensive relative to earnings.

Childcare costs have exploded. A typical family can spend $20,000–$35,000 per child per year before subsidies.

Insurance - Home, contents, and health insurance have all seen steep rises due to climate events, construction costs, and sector pressures.

Education - Tertiary fees, school expenses (even for public schools), and extracurricular costs all add to the squeeze.

Bracket creep - Our tax brackets aren’t indexed to inflation. So rising incomes mean ordinary Australians get pushed into high tax brackets.

Note: As Simon put it: “You feel like you should be richer now… but you are not.”

Income is up. But disposable income is a different story.

This mismatch between nominal wealth and felt wealth is driving much of the discontent across the nation.

The invisible crisis: the family squeeze

Behind closed doors, in kitchens and living rooms across Australia, families are having tough conversations.

Simon described it plainly:

“Many working mothers say, I would have loved a third child, but financially it’s absolutely not possible.”

This is a profound shift. Kids aren’t becoming less desirable; they’re becoming less affordable.

This economic reality shapes:

fertility rates
family size
women’s workforce participation
long-term labour supply
future housing demand

It also intensifies resentment. As Simon noted, people feel decisions are being forced on them, not made by them.

This loss of autonomy (real or perceived) fuels frustration about:

migration
housing shortages
childcare access
affordability
government decisions

It’s worth noting that Australia’s fertility rate is now below 1.7, far below the replacement rate of 2.1, and of course, this will reshape our population for decades.

The return of time poverty: why we’re outsourcing life

One of the clearest trends in modern Australia is the rise of time poverty.

We’re not just stretched financially, we’re stretched chronologically.

Dual-income households are now the norm. Commuting times have increased. Work-from-home has blurred lines rather than easing them. Parenting demands have intensified.

So Australians are “buying back time.”

As Simon puts it:

“If you have a bit of spare money, you might as well use it to buy yourself time.”

This shows up in spending patterns:

Food delivery - Platforms like Uber Eats and DoorDash aren’t “lazy luxury.” They’re time optimisation tools.

Cleaning services - Hiring a cleaner is becoming standard among middle-income families.

Childcare - Not optional anymore, but an essential infrastructure for working parents.

Convenience subscriptions - Meal kits, grocery delivery, even laundry pickup services.

This trend has implications:

Businesses that sell time, simplicity, or convenience will thrive.
Property located in accessible, high-amenity areas becomes even more valuable.
Investors should target areas where dual-income households cluster.

Time has become the new currency and Australians are spending it carefully.

Australia’s ageing workforce: working longer isn’t optional

Here’s a truth most of us don’t want to hear: Retiring at 60 or even 65 is no longer economically viable for most Australians.

Life expectancy continues to rise, but superannuation balances aren’t keeping pace, especially for renters.

Simon was blunt:

“Demographically speaking, we must work longer.”

Several forces drive this:

1. Longevity - If you live to 90, you can’t fund a 30-year retirement on savings from a 40-year career.

2. The shift to knowledge work - A tradie can’t easily work into their 70s, but an analyst, consultant, manager, or educator can.

3. Identity - Older Australians increasingly want to stay connected through work.

4. Skills shortages Every industry—from healthcare to construction to technologis crying out for workers.

This will reshape workplaces with longer careers and up-skilling and re-skilling across all age groups.

And critically…This will reshape the housing market as older Australians staying in the workforce means:

delaying downsizing
delaying selling
staying in large homes longer
restricting supply in middle-ring suburbs

For investors, that’s a clear signal: family homes in established areas will stay in chronic undersupply.

Will AI replace jobs? Not even close

It seems that AI anxiety is everywhere, but as we discuss in this episode of Demographics Decoded, much of it is misplaced.

Simon’s view is clear and evidence-based:

“The idea that we run out of stuff for humans to do I find incredibly hard to believe.”

Look at Australia’s labour landscape:

Aged care – cannot be automated
Childcare – cannot be automated
Healthcare – augmented by AI, not replaced
Construction – remains labour intensive
Hospitality – still deeply human
Retail – partially automated, but not eliminated
Personal services – will expand, not shrink
Infrastructure – a 20-year backlog of physical work

Even if some bureaucratic or repetitive roles disappear, new jobs will emerge just as they always have.

The real risk isn’t job loss, it’s skills mismatch.

Workers who embrace AI-enhanced productivity will thrive. Those who resist will struggle.

This is why lifelong learning isn’t a slogan anymore; it’s a necessity.

Housing: the demographic tug-of-war that will push prices higher

Australia’s housing market is the epicentre of all these trends, so here's how I see it playing out...

Delayed life milestones:

First home buyers are now older - around age 38.
Family formation is delayed.
Upgrading happens later.
Downsizing happens much later.

And the result is that these trends stretch every phase of the property cycle.

Loneliness is rising: with more people are living alone, more divorces after age 50 and more single-person households.

This means more dwellings are needed per capita, even without population growth.

Older Australians staying in large homes, which locks up supply in high-demand suburbs.

Strong migration: Still our primary source of population growth, and Australia needs it to fund our ageing population.

However, there is insufficient construction of new dwellings due to labour and material shortages, planning bottlenecks, and builder insolvencies.

Putting all this together means property prices will continue climbing, and this is why well-located A-grade properties—particularly family homes in established suburbs remain the gold standard for long-term wealth creation.

Australia’s future is predictable if you know what to look for

One of Simon’s key insights stuck with me:

“Most demographic trends don’t suddenly appear… they sneak up on you.”

And that’s the opportunity.

Tip: Demographics give you advance warning. They tell you where society is heading long before the headlines catch up.

Right now, the signals are clear:

We’re getting richer on paper but poorer in feeling.
We’re time-poor and outsourcing life.
We’re delaying major life decisions by almost a decade.
We’re working longer out of necessity and preference.
We’re lonelier despite being more connected than ever.
We’re battling affordability in ways previous generations didn’t.
And through all this, our property markets remain structurally undersupplied.

If you’re an investor or business leader, this is your roadmap.

Demographics don’t just tell you what’s happening, they tell you what’s coming next.

Final thoughts

Australia is changing. Not chaotically. Not suddenly. But steadily and structurally.

The challenge for many is interpreting the noise.

The opportunity lies in interpreting the signals.

That’s why at Metropole, understanding demographics is central to our strategy.

Where people live, how they live, how long they work, what they can afford, and what they value are the forces that determine demand.

And demand determines capital growth.

There’s much more in the HILDA report, and Simon and I will unpack more in the next conversation next week, but the key message is this:

If you understand how Australia is changing, you can position yourself to benefit from trends others don’t yet see.

About Michael Yardney Michael is the founder of Metropole Property Strategists who help their clients grow, protect and pass on their wealth through independent, unbiased property advice and advocacy. He's once again been voted Australia's leading property investment adviser and one of Australia's 50 most influential Thought Leaders. His opinions are regularly featured in the media.