Aged care consultancy James Underwood says the 3.2% increase in the number of places explains the record low occupancy of 90.3% at 30 June 2018 – down from 91.8% at 30 June 2017.

They also attribute the lower occupancy to growth in numbers of Level 3 and Level 4 Home Care Packages.

Overall, Queensland has experienced the largest increase of 6.1% while Western Australia has seen a 5.8% rise.

Interestingly, James Underwood points out that the average total bed number increase over the last six years has been 3,786 per year – well below the 8,000 a year required that was forecast in the Government’s Living Longer Living Better reforms in 2012.