A new report by Lois Towart at the University of Technology Sydney has found that retirement villages are more affordable than general residential homes, when you factor in the total living costs for older Aussies.

Ms Towart looked at a range of financial and lifestyle factors of retirement village living including entry price, ongoing costs, facilities and services, exit price and intangible factors.

While the ownership costs of a house are lower, Ms Towart found the real savings are provided through the lifestyle services included in retirement village living.

This includes facilities such as swimming pools, gymnasiums, libraries, GP clinics and social activities which will generally cost more to access outside a village setting.

These can also lead to better health, an increased sense of security and lower social isolation among residents than would be possible in the wider community.

Lois tells us that it’s too hard for prospective residents to break the cost of retirement living into a single number.

“The results are so nuanced that you need to look at it as a whole and decide ‘is this what I want?’” she said.

“Services and facilities do represent value for money that is very hard to duplicate in the community.”