Building up is quickly becoming a dominant strategy in the retirement living sector. Whether that development is a six-story complex nestled in the inner-suburbs or one of Australia’s capital cities, or a resort style vertical village walking distance from the beach, these developments are beginning to dominate the development pipeline.
Retirement community operators are recognising this as a serious investment opportunity and in tune with consumer wants and needs, and we can see that when we compare the results from all of the PwC/Property Council Retirement Census Snapshot Reports.
People want to live in or near the communities that they have always lived in, even if that means apartment living.
You can see from the below graph that from 2015 to 2021 there is a noticeable shift in the built-form outcomes of Australia’s retirement villages.
With 18 per cent of the market now represented by just vertical villages, it is important to continue advocating for a sensible and competitive planning framework.
This emerging issue is best highlighted by the developments still in the pipeline, as seen below. Vertical villages in 2021 represented 41 per cent of new developments, combination made up 18 per cent and the remaining 41 per cent is represented as horizontal developments.
Research undertaken in 2021, by Dr Lois C Towart from the School of Built Environment Research Centre at the University of Technology Sydney, compared the built form outcomes between retirement villages and residential developments. To understand why these planning issues are likely to become more and more pronounced for industry as it continues to build upwards in urban areas that are increasing in density, Dr Towart’s research offers a good explanation.
Finding that residential price increases in Australian population centres has led to residential developers paying a premium for development sites, retirement village operators are reporting this competition often means they are priced out of the market.
Ensuring a sensible planning framework to allow retirement community operators to build age-friendly and purpose-built communities remains a staunch advocacy front for the Retirement Living Council.