By Andy Silvester
The notebook is a place where business’ movers and shakers say their piece – and today, it’s Nick Sanderson, chief executive of retirement village developers Audley Group
If like me, you are a keen follower of sports, you’ll know the Australian Open reaches its culmination this weekend in Melbourne, as the world’s best tennis players battle it out in the first grand slam of the 2024 season. What you might be less up on is the intricacies of the Australian housing market and how much it differs to ours, especially when it comes to where to live as you get older.
Housing with care schemes represent 5 per cent of housing stock in Australia. The scale of this type of living is significant. Compare this to the UK and the figures are startling. Housing with care properties represent less than 1 per cent of housing stock in the UK.
What this difference really means is that for people in their 50s, 60s and 70s, in Australia, it is the norm to consider moving into a retirement property. They have friends and loved ones living in retirement villages, they understand the model, the costs and it’s something they talk to their friends about while out for dinner. We aren’t there in the UK. People expect to, and in many cases plan to, stay in large family homes until the decision is ultimately made for them. This way of thinking must change.
Health, financial security, loss of independence and loneliness are the biggest concerns for people as they get older. Retirement village living can mitigate all of these. A community, centred around health and wellness facilities which actively encourage people to live long, independent and healthy lives.
Increasing the provision of retirement living options will go some way to tackling the lack of awareness, and stigma that exists around retirement living in the UK. But more needs to be done.
If there is one thing that I hear from our over 2,000 owners living in Audley or Mayfield Villages, it’s that they wish they had done it sooner.
Book club, murder club
Richard Osman’s bestselling Thursday Murder Club series has hit the bestseller lists numerous times over the last couple of years, and while I can’t confess that Coopers Chase is based on one of our villages, there are definitely similarities. Homeowners living in their own homes, behind their own front doors, able to spend time on their hobbies and interests. For our owners, it’s not property development scandals and dead bodies (I hope!), but it might be joining a walking group across the Malvern hills or learning to play the piano.
Summer dreaming
The famous Frinton-On-Sea Clock Tower shelter. The last week has seen the country hit by Storm Isha and Storm Jocelyn and I must admit that I’m looking forward to the brighter and longer summer days when the sun sets after 9pm and I can take an evening run along the seafront in the sun.
Clearing the path
January is the time of market outlooks and predictions. And in its forecast for the property sector, Savills tipped the retirement living sector. And rightly so. Investor appetite for more diverse solutions is growing and for the first time and following the Federated Hermes deal, holistic financing options are available in the retirement sector. Capital can be raised at all stages of a village, from concept to full maturity. Being the first to do something can be likened to a snowplough, but clearing the path means that across the sector we should be able to expedite the creation of more urgently needed units.
An epic, but one for the sofa
A three-and-a-half-hour epic, which recounts a shocking period in US history, Killers of the Flower Moon split opinion amongst my family members. But Lily Gladstone and Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance, coupled with Martin Scorsese mastery, which saw him bring in the chief of the Osage Nation through the filming, won me over. If you don’t know about the experiences of the Osage Nation, it really is an incredible story of how at one point it became the richest nation in the world but of course, the source of its wealth drew many unscrupulous characters and bought real tragedy. But perhaps one for home, rather than the cinema, so you can hit pause if, and when you need a break.
The notebook is a place where business’ movers and shakers say their piece – and today, it’s Nick Sanderson, chief executive of retirement village developers Audley Group
