The UK is around 20 years behind the US in the development of integrated retirement communities (IRC) but has considerable scope for growth, according to estate agents Savills.
Just one per cent of those in the UK aged over 65 live in IRCs - otherwise known as housing with care - compared to 6.5 per cent in the US and 5.5 per cent Australia respectively.
“Whilst IRCs have been around for a while in the UK, it is only more recently that they have started to capture the attention of the public and of investors,” Savills said in its Spotlight: UK Senior Living report.
“As a result, other markets such as the USA and Australia are around 20 years ahead of the UK in terms of development of this sector,” it added.
The US passed an inflection point in 2013, where the total number of seniors housing (independent living, assisted living and dementia care) units passed the number of nursing home units.
The former has then continued to accelerate, whereas the latter has seen little growth over the past two decades.
Over the past decade, only 4,000 IRCs were developed annually in the UK.
Savills head of senior housing transactions Caryn Donahue (pictured) said UK data underscores the need and potential for significant continued growth in the sector.
“If we continue developing in the sector at the same pace, the provision rate would only increase from 1 per cent today to 1.3 per cent by 2030,” she added.
“By 2030, the number of over 65s in the UK is projected to total over 15m, which is 2.4m more than today. Put another way, in ten years’ time, the population of over 65s will be increasing by 300,000 people every year.”
