For many Australians, the dream takes shape on holiday. A week by the beach, a long weekend in a country town, a stay near the grandchildren. Life seems slower, the air seems cleaner and the house prices look like a bargain compared with the city. Why not move for good?
A sea change, a tree change or a move closer to family can be one of the best decisions of later life. For many people it is. But relocating in your 60s is different from moving at 30, and some of the lessons only become clear once the boxes are unpacked. Knowing them in advance won’t take the adventure out of it. It might just help you choose the right place, and settle in more happily.
1. Your friendships won’t move with you
It’s easy to underestimate how much of your social life is tied to where you live: the neighbour you chat to over the fence, the walking group, the café owner who knows your order, the friends you’ve had for decades and see without planning. Move a few hundred kilometres and most of that stays behind.
An Australian study by Crisp and colleagues, published in 2015, followed 83 people aged 57 to 90 who moved into independent living units in a retirement community, measuring their social lives before the move and over the following year. The results were mixed in an instructive way. Loneliness actually fell after the move, and support from neighbours grew. But contact with friends went down.
In other words, a move can build new connections, especially in a place designed for them, but it tends to cost some old ones. Rebuilding takes time. Research by Jeffrey Hall at the University of Kansas suggests it takes more than 200 hours together to turn someone into a close friend. That is a lot of coffees.
The lesson: Before you move, look at how you would meet people. Is there a club, a choir, a volunteer group or a men’s shed you could join in the first month? And plan how you’ll keep up with the friends you’re leaving.
2. A holiday town is different in winter
The beach town that buzzed in January can be very quiet in July. Cafés close for the season, the visitors go home and the weather that felt glorious for a week can feel very different for a whole summer or a wet winter.
The lesson: Rent before you buy. Spending a few months in the area, ideally in the off-season, is the best way to find out whether you like everyday life there, not just the holiday version. Notice what the town is like on a Tuesday afternoon in winter.
3. Health services thin out beyond the cities
In your 60s, this may not seem pressing. In your 70s and 80s, it often matters a great deal. Seeing a doctor or specialist has long been harder outside the cities, and people in regional and remote areas are more likely to say distance gets in the way of care.
In the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s 2016 Survey of Health Care, which covered people aged 45 and over, 20% of people in rural and remote areas said not having a GP nearby was a barrier to seeing one, compared with 3% in major cities. For specialists the gap was even wider: almost 60% compared with 6%. The figures are now some years old, and coastal towns near big regional centres can be well served. But the pattern is worth checking for any place you’re considering.
The lesson: Find out how far the nearest hospital, GP clinic and specialists are, whether local GPs are taking new patients, and how long waits are. Think about how you would get to appointments if you couldn’t drive.
4. Family may not stay where they are
Moving to be near children and grandchildren is a common reason for relocating later in life, and it can bring a great deal of joy. But younger families often move for work, schools or housing. A move made to be near one family can leave you a long way from everyone if they relocate a few years later.
The lesson: Choose a place you’d be happy to live in even if family moved away. Talk openly with your children about their plans, and about what kind of help, if any, each of you is hoping for.
5. Choose the home you’ll need at 80, not just at 65
The two-storey house with the steep garden may be perfect now. It may not be in 15 years. Falls are a serious risk as we age. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, as reported by The Senior, Australians aged 65 and over were almost 12 times as likely to be hospitalised from a fall as adults aged 25 to 44 in 2023-24, and falls caused 43% of all injury hospitalisations.
The lesson: Look for a home you could live in comfortably if your mobility changed: single level or with a bedroom and bathroom downstairs, few steps at the entrance, a manageable garden, and room for a walk-in shower. A move is the easiest time to get this right.
6. Driving won’t last forever
Many sea change and tree change towns are built around the car. That’s fine while you’re driving. But eyesight, health or confidence can change, and in places with limited buses or trains, giving up the car can mean giving up independence.
The lesson: Check how you’d get to the shops, the doctor and your social activities without a car. A home within walking distance of a town centre may be worth more than a bigger block out of town.
7. The money is more complicated than it looks
Lower house prices can make a move look like a windfall. But selling and buying come with real costs, such as agent’s fees, stamp duty, legal fees, moving costs and the work a new home often needs. If you receive or may receive the Age Pension, timing matters too. According to Services Australia, for principal homes sold on or after 1 January 2023, the portion of the proceeds you intend to use for a replacement principal home may be exempt from the assets test for up to 24 months, with a possible extension of up to 12 months if conditions are met. This does not make the funds exempt from the income test: money held in a financial investment is still subject to deeming, with the lower deeming rate applying to the amount intended for the new home during the exemption period.
The lesson: Work out the full cost of the move, not just the difference in house prices. This is general information only, and a licensed financial adviser or Services Australia can help you understand your own situation.
Going in with your eyes open
None of these lessons means you shouldn’t move. Plenty of people find a new town gives them exactly the fresh start, slower pace and community they were hoping for. The Crisp study is a reminder that a move can even reduce loneliness when the new place makes it easy to meet people.
The difference often comes down to planning: trialling the place, thinking ahead to your 70s and 80s, and putting as much thought into the people you’ll meet as into the view from the deck. Get those right, and a move in your 60s can set you up for many good years to come.
