WA aged care at a turning point, new report warns
WA faces urgent aged care bed shortage
- Capacity warning: EY-Parthenon says WA faces a time-critical aged care bed shortfall
- 2,700 beds needed: WA will require up to 27 new aged care homes by 2030
- Costs rising: New aged care construction costs have climbed to $645,000 per bed
- Federal funding: WA wants more Commonwealth support for new aged care developments
Western Australia faces a “substantial and time-critical shortfall” in residential aged care, according to a new report by EY-Parthenon.
The consultant’s Supply & Demand Analysis of Residential Aged Care in WA report, which was was handed to the WA Government in March but only released this week, shows residential aged care capacity increased 1.8% in the five years since 2020, the equivalent of approximately 400 beds per year on average.
However, last year the number of beds in WA declined by 119, the first annual decline in a decade.
The report cautions the situation on the ground could be even worse, with 670 beds reported as offline. The data is unclear if those beds are temporarily or permanently unavailable.
Yet the demand for residential aged care is soaring. Demand for RAC in WA is estimated to have grown 24% over the past decade, reaching about 18,500 residents in FY25, despite a declining proportion of older cohorts entering RAC due to people receiving care in the home for longer.
Unsurprisingly, the average occupancy rate in WA is 96.5%, which is higher than the national average.
27 new aged care facilities needed within four years
EY-Parthenon forecasts up to 2,700 new aged care beds will be needed in WA by 2030 to meet future demand, requiring an investment of around $1.8 billion - or up to 27 new aged care facilities within four years.
Survey respondents indicated approximately 1,200 new aged care beds would come online between 2027 and 3030, mainly in Perth.
The most significant barriers to new bed construction was higher construction costs, lengthy approval processes, and limited availability of contractors, according to the survey.
New bed construction costs have risen from a reported $500,000 per bed in 2024 to an average of $645,000 per bed in early 2026. Some operators quoted figures of up to $1 million per bed. Expansions are costing in the range of $300,000 to $500,000 per bed.
A big task
The report highlights the challenge the state has in meeting demand.
“I know it’s a big task, the State Government knows this is a big task, that’s why we’ve got these sorts of programs [like Time to Think] to assist people to work out the next stage of their journey, but if they don’t have residential aged care beds to go to, it’s going to be difficult,” said WA Aged Care Minister, Simone McGurk.
She said she was disappointed the Federal Government has not announced a zero interest loan scheme in the recent Budget.
“We were disappointed to hear that the federal government wasn’t putting additional money into that massive new build program that is needed if we are going to meet our residential care aged demands in the next five years, and then into the 2030s,” the Minister added.
The WA Government launched a $100 million low-interest loan scheme aimed at accelerating the development of new aged care beds in January.
EY-Parthenon surveyed operators accounting for approximately half of all WA aged care beds between 17 January and 27 February 2026.
