Aged Care Costs on the Sunshine Coast: 2026 Guide

The Direct Answer

Aged care costs on the Sunshine Coast depend on the rules when you entered care. Typically, you’ll pay a Basic Daily Fee, a means-tested Hotelling Contribution for everyday living, and a Non-Clinical Care Contribution. If you stay at home, the Support at Home program fully funds approved personal care services.

The Sunlit Path Definition

At Sunlit Path, aged care funding sits inside the “Place” and “Plenty” pillars of our Path to Prosperity approach. We help you structure your assets to pay for care while protecting your family’s financial security.

The Facts

Under the Aged Care Act 2025, the Non-Clinical Care Contribution has a lifetime cap of around $135,319. Providers also now retain 2% of your Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) each year, for up to five years.

Introduction

It usually starts with a phone call you were dreading.

A parent has a bad fall. A spouse suddenly needs more help than you can give at home. Within a day or two you’re thrown into a complex medical and financial system, trying to make major decisions while you’re already emotionally worn out.

For a lot of local families, the fear sits quietly in the background: one bad fall could cost you everything you’ve built.

Whether you’re weighing up care options in Buderim or trying to keep a loved one at home in Caloundra, the paperwork alone can be overwhelming, and the rules changed significantly in late 2025. For most people, working out how to fund this stage feels like a second job they never signed up for.

At Sunlit Path, we act as Retirement Partners. That means we plan your whole life after work, not just your investments. The move into aged care shouldn’t be about decoding government forms. It should be about having the time and headspace to actually be with your family.

Here’s what aged care really costs in 2026, and how to fund it without losing sleep over it.

What Happens If I Want to Stay at Home?

Most people would rather stay in their own home for as long as they can, and the government’s current settings are actually built around that.

Under the Support at Home program, which has now replaced the older home care packages, the way personal care is funded has changed for the better.

If you’re approved for personal care, things like help with showering or dressing, that’s now fully funded by the government. You pay nothing out of pocket for this clinical support (from 1 October 2026).

You’ll still contribute to everyday living services though. Cleaning, gardening, meal prep and similar tasks fall into this category, and what you pay depends on your income and assets.

Local Example Mary, 82, lives in a townhouse in Mooloolaba. She needs help showering and a bit of light cleaning. The government covers her nursing and personal care in full. Mary only pays a small, means-tested fee for her weekly cleaner, so she gets to stay near the beach and her savings stay largely intact.

How Much Does Residential Care Actually Cost?

Sometimes staying at home isn’t safe anymore, and moving into a residential facility brings a different set of costs. The system now leans heavily on a user-pays model for anyone with meaningful savings.

If you enter care today, your ongoing costs break down into three daily fees.

1. The Basic Daily Fee Everyone pays this one. It covers day-to-day living costs like meals, laundry and electricity, and it’s set at 85% of the single Age Pension rate. Even self-funded retirees pay this flat rate.

2. The Hotelling Contribution This fee is newer. It’s a means-tested charge for everyday living services like catering and cleaning, capped at a daily rate (currently around $22.15). If your income and assets are low, the government covers it for you. If you’ve built up wealth over your life, you’ll pay it yourself.

3. The Non-Clinical Care Contribution This replaced the old means-tested care fee. It covers things like bathing and mobility assistance, and it’s capped daily with a lifetime cap of roughly $135,319. In practice, that means after around four years in care, you stop paying this particular fee altogether.

How Do You Pay for Your Room?

The fees above cover your day-to-day care, but you still need to pay for the room itself. This is usually where the biggest financial shock hits families.

You generally have two options: a lump sum or a daily payment.

The Refundable Accommodation Deposit (RAD) This is a large lump sum. On the Sunshine Coast, a standard room typically runs somewhere between $550,000 and $850,000.

There’s a change under the 2025 rules that’s worth knowing about. Providers now keep 2% of your RAD every year, for up to five years.

So if you pay a $750,000 RAD, the facility retains $15,000 of it annually. After five years, your family gets back $675,000, not the full amount. That’s a real shift from the old rules, where the whole deposit was eventually refunded.

The Daily Accommodation Payment (DAP) If you’d rather not pay a lump sum, or don’t want to sell assets to fund it, you can pay a daily interest rate instead. This is the DAP.

Keep in mind this rate is now indexed twice a year, so the daily amount will drift upward over time.

The Sunlit Path Approach We often look at a blended option: part lump sum, with the daily fees deducted from that balance. This helps protect your regular income and keeps your cash flow more predictable.

What Happens to the Family Home?

For most families, the house is the biggest asset in the mix. When a parent moves into care, the question the kids usually ask is: do we have to sell it?

The answer is no, but keeping it does take some careful planning.

If a protected person, your spouse, for example, still lives in the home, it’s completely exempt from the aged care asset test. Your spouse can keep living there without it pushing up your care fees.

If the house sits empty, its value is capped at around $206,039 for the aged care means test, for the first two years. The caps are indexed in March and September each year.

That leaves a real decision to make. Do you rent the house out to help cover the daily care fees, or sell it to pay the RAD lump sum outright?

Renting creates taxable income and changes your Centrelink asset test results. Selling generates a large cash lump sum, which can reduce your Age Pension.

Local Example John, 85, needs to move into care in Caloundra. His wife passed away years ago, and his home in Pelican Waters is worth $1.2 million.

Scenario A: His kids sell the house to pay an $800,000 RAD. The remaining $400,000 sits in the bank, and that cash reduces John’s Age Pension to zero.

Scenario B: His kids rent the house out for $800 a week and use that income to cover John’s daily DAP. He keeps the house, and the rent covers his care.

There’s no single correct answer here. We model both scenarios against your actual numbers to work out which option leaves your family better off.

Standard Financial Advice vs. The Sunlit Path

Does your current plan account for this?

Aged care costs Sunshine Coast families thousands of dollars a year in fees that could often be avoided with better planning. If you or your parents are approaching this stage, guessing isn’t a good strategy. You need a clear plan that protects the healthy spouse and preserves what you’re leaving behind.

Conclusion

The rules for aged care changed substantially in 2025. Once you understand the 2% RAD retention rule and the caps on daily fees, you’re in a much better position to protect your life savings. A clear plan turns what feels like a frightening health shock into a managed, more peaceful transition for the whole family.

Ready to Secure Your Family’s Future?

I’m Simon, founder of Sunlit Path Retirement Partners [AFSL number to be inserted]. For over 15 years I’ve helped Sunshine Coast locals protect their wealth when a loved one needs care. You worked hard for decades to build your family home and your savings. You shouldn’t have to lose it to a confusing aged care system.

In a focused 30-minute conversation, we’ll look at your situation and answer the questions keeping you up at night:

• Will selling the house ruin our Age Pension?
• How do we fund the daily fees without running out of cash?
• Should we pay the lump sum or the daily rate for the room?
• How do we protect what’s left for the kids?

Speak directly with Simon → No sales pitch. No obligation. Just honest answers.

General Advice Warning: This information is general in nature and doesn’t take into account your personal financial situation, objectives, or needs. Please seek professional advice before making any financial decisions.