Thrifty plans for the end

DEMAND for no service, no attendance funerals has skyrocketed as Australians get thrifty with their end-oflife plans.

Record burial plot prices and a massive drop in religiosity are driving the trend as the living get smashed by rising costs for essentials.

Gathered Here, Australia’s largest funeral comparison site, has seen inquiries for “direct cremations”, in which a body is cremated with no funeral service, rise 125 per cent in the year to June 2022.

The average cost of a direct cremation in Australia is $3530 compared to $6141 for a traditional cremation, the site found.

People wanting a funeral service will pay on average $5322 but this excludes extras like a headstone, flowers and transport and the burial plot itself.

Gathered Here CEO and founder Colin Wong said Australians were spending more time preparing for the end of life.

“The emerging trend in both prepaid funerals and no service, no attendance cremations is being driven by a growing cost-of-living pressure combined with changing attitudes to what constitutes a modern farewell,” Mr Wong said.

“We are seeing rapid growth in prepaid funerals and direct cremations as increasingly tech-savvy consumers drive a shift to conduct research and purchase funeral, cremation and farewell services online.”

As well as taking the burden off loved ones by getting organised, Australians are saving big bucks by securing their end at today’s price.

“With a prepaid funeral the funds are held in a trust account, so they are secured in the event a funeral director is no longer able to fulfil the service,” Mr Wong said.

“But the benefit is you can organise it and buy the funeral at today’s price, not what it is going to cost in the future.”

The Bulletin last year reported there had been a 30 per cent spike in burials and that existing cemeteries at Pimpama, Southport and Mudgeeraba needed to be expanded.

In Brisbane, the council offers a lawn burial package for $4862. It includes a plot, plaque and one inscription.

Further north, a standard plot at Mackay Cemetery costs $2705, while a lawn grave at Redland Bay cemetery fetches $2950 and Pinnaroo Cemetery $4863, Gathered Here data shows.

Tony Hollands Funerals quotes $8747 as a starting price for a burial and funeral service (using an existing grave) or $11,243 (new grave). In comparison, a cremation with a funeral service starts from $7212 compared to a direct cremation which starts at $1485.

The Cost of Death Report, published by Australian Seniors in June 2019, found funeral costs had steadily increased at a rate of 6-11 per cent since 2011. The cost of a basic cremation had more than doubled from $1435 in 2011 to $3108 in 2019.

When asked about the financial toll, close to one in three (32 per cent) respondents who paid for a funeral experienced hardship.

Australasian Cemeteries and Crematoria Association CEO Chris Harrington said “there are many factors affecting the price of burial, rights of interment, and memorial sites across the country”.

“From inner-city cemeteries, out to small country town locations, prices will differ greatly. There are also concentrations of cultural populations in some areas and not so much in other areas. Diminished land space available for burial will also have an impact on pricing.”