For a brief period in our history the majority of Australians have been home owners, but this may not be so in the future. The economic state of our country may result in a rapid increase in older people who are renting and the equity which homes owners do have may be much less. The asset rich elderly people may not be a permanent feature of our society. However, in Australia, today, the provision of housing for elderly people tends to be skewed to meeting the expressed "wants" of fairly affluent home owners; the white Anglo Saxons of the generation which reached adulthood in the prosperous post war years. They were able to buy their homes on low deposits and inflation enabled them to pay their homes off rather rapidly. These are the people who are asset rich today and can afford to reinvest in retirement homes. Home owners are also able to take advantage of home improvement and maintenance loans and of the home equity conversion loans to adapt their family home to suit their needs in older years.