Australia s first retirement living census on the way

Australia’s first retirement living census on the wayThe Property Council of Australia and leading professional services firm PwC are building on their 2014 partnership to deliver Australia’s first ever Retirement Census in 2015.The Census will provide industry, governments and other key stakeholders with comprehensive data covering everything from occupancy rates in retirement villages to how long residents stay, new developments and the refurbishment of older units.Executive Director Retirement, Mary Wood, said the Census will fill a critical information gap and be an indispensable investment tool.”With Australia’s population of over 70s set to surpass 7 million just four decades from now it is imperative that we have the tools to better plan for the future,” Ms Wood said.”With Australians living longer and older Australians increasing as a proportion of the population we will need to substantially bolster our retirement living capacity.”The Census will provide industry with a tool to not only benchmark performance across the sector but also identify the best investment opportunities and target supply to emerging demand.”It will also provide us with an incredibly useful tool when engaging with government on policies impacting the retirement living industry.”The Census will vastly improve transparency in the industry and promote investment, which is currently hampered by inadequate sector-wide reporting.”Late last year, using information from Retirement Living Council members, representing over 40,000 Independent Living Units and serviced apartments across 300 villages, PwC produced their first snapshot of the industry – available here.The Property Council has engaged on the 2015 round of data collection, including an expanded number of data fields, with the next analysis report by PwC due in July.Members who want to participate in the Census should email [email protected] for more information.