First home buyers are not the only people facing a lifetime of debt. More than twice as many Australians over are paying off a mortgage than a decade ago.
While the percentages of older people paying off their homes are relatively small - 9.5 per cent in 2006 compared to 4.2 per cent in 1996 - new figures show that this group has also experienced the biggest jump in housing stress.
An AMP/NATSEM survey found housing stress almost doubled from 5.3 per cent in 1996 to 9.5 per cent in 2006 for Australians of retirement age.
Outright home ownership also dropped over the last 10 years for the over 60s from 79.6 per cent to 74.5 per cent.
The report found that incomes have failed to match the pace of growing house prices since the mid-80s. House prices jumped 400 per cent between 1986 and 2007 while wages increased 120 per cent.
Households needed 7.5 times their annual disposable income to buy a typical house in 2006, up from five times in 1996.
AMP financial services managing director Craig Meller said "the most interesting and surprising" aspect of the research was the impact of worsening housing affordability on older people.
"The long-term implications are that people are carrying much more debt into their 40s and 50s and when they should be retiring," Meller said.
He said financial planners need to make debt strategies as important as they make superannuation and investment strategies for their clients.
"One in 10 people that planners are speaking to still have a mortgage," Meller said.
"The industry has been very focused on looking at the investment side of balance sheets, but the reality is many people who planners are talking to have debt.
"More enlightened planners are looking at debt recycling for clients but are also looking at the kind of lifestyle they may achieve in retirement."
