Care a critical part of sector’s growth: Retirement Living Council Executive Director Ben Myers

Retirement village and lifestyle community operators have begun in earnest to offer ageing in place strategies. Retirement Living Council Executive Director Ben Myers told The SOURCE the willingness of Aware Super and EQT to invest in the sector, shows the demand for alternative real estate assets, and investors who have a good knowledge of the sector.

“The big opportunity for all operators is to continue defining and refining the value proposition of living in a purpose-built age-friendly community. Getting this right will really drive demand and unlock significant growth and investment opportunities.” “Care is obviously a critical part of this growth story. There are no easy answers, or straight forward examples that can be copied from overseas, so each operator is having to define, on a village-by-village basis, what an expanded home care system means.” “Retirement village operators who have invested in operational capability, and who have used industry standards like the Retirement Living Code of Conduct to focus on operational performance, are likely to better understand risks and be more attractive to potential investors,” he said.

Stockton acknowledged this fact last month when it sold its 58 villages and 10 development projects after having them on the market for seven years.. CEO Tarun Gupta said “The sector’s moving into more what you would call healthcare with co-location of aged care capabilities.” The division was delivering a 3% cash profit which was not meeting expectations and warned about the additional cost of providing health care.