Queenslanders enjoy retirement village lifestyle
Queenslanders living in retirement villages in South-East Queensland are very satisfied with their lifestyles, according to a University of Queensland study.
The study, believed to be the first to examine retirement village living in South-East Queensland, provides information for people contemplating moving into a village.
The study was conducted by Professor Robert Stimson and senior research officer Michelle Manicaros from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) within the University's Geographical Sciences and Planning Department.
Ms Manicaros said the study also provided planning information for retirement village developers and government housing policy makers. The study also provides first-hand information to retirees thinking of moving to a retirement village.
An estimated 44,000 Australians currently live in the nation's 1340 retirement villages.
Researchers say Australia's population is ageing with the proportion of Queenslanders aged 65 years and over set to double from 11.2 percent of the population in 1997 to 22.5 percent in the next 50 years.
Ms Manicaros said that housing the elderly was becoming a pressing issue. She recently presented the study's findings, contained in the report Retirement Village Living in South-East Queensland, to government, the Council of the Ageing and the Retirement Village Association of Australia. The study is a precursor to the International Year of Older Persons activities planned by AHURI for 1999.
For the study, Professor Stimson and Ms Manicaros interviewed 74 people aged between 55 and 95 at four Brisbane retirement villages. With the support of the Retirement Village Association of Australia, they plan to expand the program to include more subjects.
Ninety-five percent of participants reported feeling satisfied with their lives at the retirement villages with 100 percent reporting an increase in their overall standard of living. Two-thirds said their village provided the support they would need in the event of a health emergency including 24-hour call buttons and easy access to hospitals.
Participants were asked where they previously lived, the reasons they moved to the villages, the characteristics they liked about the villages and their happiness levels.
Recently presented to the Retirement Village of Australia's 1998 National Convention, the study found two-thirds of older people moved to villages within 20km of their original homes.
"This finding suggests retirement villages should be constructed in established suburbs rather than in outlying areas. The people surveyed also preferred villages which blended with surrounding neighbourhoods, perhaps arranged in a series of cul-de-sacs," Ms Manicaros said.
She said the top three aspects of retirement village life for subjects were social networks (58 participants reported), amenities and facilities (44) and friendly environment/sense of community (37). The worst aspects were missing home cooking (8), public transport access (7) and not enough different age groups (6).
"People reported feeling safer in the villages and free from the responsibilities associated with their own homes such as lawn-mowing and pool-cleaning. Most women interviewed were widowed so they enjoyed the many new friendships they formed," Ms Manicaros said.
Media contact: Ms Manicaros (telephone 07 3365 7435 at work or 07 3841 7004 at home).
