Norah, 71: a house of her own in a Spanish hill town, on the pension

This is an older story. ABC News reported it in May 2018, and the prices, visa rules and pension rules in it have changed. We include it because it is one of the few reported stories we found of a single Australian woman retiring to Europe on the pension.

How it came about

Norah ran an art gallery in Perth. Facing retirement on the Age Pension, she told the ABC she expected she would have ended up in state housing, getting by on very little. Instead, in about 2013, at around 66, she moved to Martos, a town of about 24,000 people in the olive country of Andalusia. When the story ran she was the only Australian on the town council’s roll.

What it costs them

These are 2018 figures, as the ABC reported them, with its own conversions:

What	Cost in 2018
Her three-bedroom, two-bathroom house	$65,000 to buy, renovated with her super
Council rates	€110 a year (about A$175)
Water	€120 a year (about A$192)
A three-course meal	from about $12

Her income was her Australian pension. The article doesn’t give a monthly total.

Prices in Spain have moved a lot since. Our Spain page has our own estimate of a month in Alicante in 2026, rent included.

What went well

Owning her own home, and a comfortable life, on the pension. She liked how people in Martos mix, with no snobbery, and she felt part of the town. She told the ABC she now thought of Andalusia as home, and she was thinking about taking out Spanish citizenship once her five-year residency was up.

What was hard

Starting out. In her words, “The hardest part was coming into the unknown,” though she added it was less scary than she expected. The one thing she missed from Australia was a decent leg of lamb.

What has changed since

• Spain’s visa. The non-lucrative residence visa, the usual route for retirees, now asks one person for 28,800 euros a year (about A$48,350, 2026), according to Spain’s embassy and consulate pages. That is well above the most the Age Pension pays someone living overseas.
• The pension overseas (from 20 September 2026). Pensioners who live overseas for good no longer get any Pension Supplement. Services Australia says the most a single person living outside Australia can now get is A$29,520.40 a year. Spain has a social security agreement with Australia, which can matter for how a pension is worked out. Our guide to moving overseas for good explains what changes the day you leave.
• Medicare. Medicare never pays for care overseas, and Spain is not on Australia’s list of reciprocal health care countries. Smartraveller says an Australian citizen can use Medicare for treatment in Australia for up to 5 years after moving overseas. After that, you re-enrol when you move back to live. Our guide to Medicare overseas covers it.
• Prices. Figures from 2018, converted at 2018 exchange rates, are no guide to costs today.

What to take from it

• For Norah, owning a modest home overseas, instead of state housing in Australia, changed what her pension could do. Our guide to the cheapest countries to live compares costs today.
• She moved on her own, in her mid 60s, to a town with almost no other Australians, and became part of it.
• The money test for Spain’s retirement visa has since moved well past the Age Pension. Spain’s embassy can confirm the current terms, and they matter more than a story this old.