Social Services Minister Scott Morrison says the government is open to making it easier for older people to sell their homes for retirement income, but has ruled out including the family home in the asset test for the pension.



Mr Morrison conducted several interviews on Tuesday morning in which he strongly denied a report in the Australian Financial Review that the government was considering the assets test move.

In doing so, he said that while the government did not want to "force" people to sell their family home, they should not be "penalised" for wanting to.

"I think the current system actually has some pretty severe penalties for people who might want to sell their family home of their own volition and support themselves as they grow older," he told Fairfax Radio.