Can I get a mortgage for my retirement village unit?

It may be the case that you don’t have enough money to buy the retirement village unit of your dreams. Can you fund the difference with a bank loan?

Short answer: No.

The way retirement villages work is that you pay for a “right to occupy” a unit in the retirement village, in the form of a lease or licence. You don’t get the freehold title to your unit and this is the security that a bank typically uses to secure their loan. Retirement village residence contracts explicitly state that the lease or licence cannot be used as collateral for a loan.

Freehold (strata) retirement villages

Freehold villages are different, in that you actually buy the freehold title to your unit within a body corporate or strata scheme. You then lease the unit to the village operator, who sub-leases it back to you. Confusing, right?

You may get lucky and find a lender that would be happy to lend against the freehold title, but it would be troublesome for the bank in the event that they have to step in as a mortgagee in possession and try to sell the unit.

The last word

So in summary, no, you cannot fund a retirement village unit with a mortgage.

Suggested next read: What does it cost to move into a retirement village?

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