Policy researchers are using the latest round of hearings at the banking royal commission to push for a complete reformation of Australia's superannuation system.

Right now, only a third of retirees are living on what the experts call a comfortable level of income, with roughly half of Australians over 65 still reliant on the age pension.

But there are now growing fears for younger Australians who are not contributing enough to their low super balances and have little chance of owning their own home — a key stepping stone for a financially stable retirement.

While policy measures such as the super guarantee will help some millennials save enough for their retirements, researchers warn many could end up wholly dependent on the age pension and at risk of poverty.

The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) has done research into the difference between what current retirees have to live on and what future generations will have.

"As recently as 2012, two out of five people had, more or less, no super coming into retirement," CIS research director Simon Cowan said.

He added that half of Australians at or near retirement age had no super at all.

"It's still the case that the median super balance for those in retirement is zero dollars."

The big difference between millennials and boomers, he explained, was that the majority of boomers owned their home.

"People who are retired have seen a 61 per cent increase in their wealth between 2002 and 2014," Mr Cowan observed.

"For those who are 25 to 34, it's just 3 per cent.

"That big difference is overwhelmingly driven by house prices."

Median household superannuation and other wealth by age, 2011-12. ( Supplied: The Centre for Independent Studies )

That gap between millennials and boomers is set to worsen.

Grattan Institute research showed Australians aged between 25 and 34 who were on low incomes only had a one-in-five chance of ever owning a home.

Mr Cowan called for a complete overhaul of the way the Federal Government thought about super.

"The system is built around people owning their own home and basically owning their home unencumbered [by debt]," he said.

"If that ceases to be true, then our retirement system needs a rethink."

Failing a complete system reboot, Mr Cowan argued younger Australians with little or no super were heading for a relatively bleak retirement.

"One thing we do see quite clearly is that people who own their own home have a much better living standard in retirement than those that don't," he said.

"The people who are really struggling — they're struggling not so much because of super, but because they have little or no savings, no home, and they're completely dependent on the pension."

Many millennials are already worried about how they are going to make ends meet in retirement because, for some, precious investment time has already been lost.

Sonia Arakkal, 26, works in the financial services sector and is a co-founder of Think Forward, which describes itself as a non-partisan lobby group for young Australians.

She has got so little in her super balance that she has not bothered to check it in years.

"I know that most of it is in one account but, a lot like many other people, we've got other financial priorities at the moment and super isn't one of them," she said.

"I worry, not just about my friends, but everyone in my generation.