Retirement living development will not meet future demand: report

Just as aged care enjoys subsidies from government and tax policy support, retirement village developers say they want land use policy that facilitates development.

Retirement villages are not being developed at a fast enough rate to meet future demand and increased effort is required by state and local government to prevent future shortfall, a report has argued.

Almost 200,000 seniors currently live in retirement villages which, according to a recently released report commissioned by the Property Council of Australia, delivers an annual budget saving of $2.16 billion by delaying entry into residential aged care and ensuring fewer or shorter hospital stays.

By 2025, demand for retirement living accommodation is forecast to double, but the report found that present rates of development will not be able to keep up, and will potentially lead to a shortage of housing built to specifically meet the needs of older people.

The research, conducted by international consultancy RPS Group, found there was a need for both state and local government to improve awareness of the retirement living sector and remove regulatory barriers. The report recommended that government:

  • alter land use policies to support the development of retirement villages, such as allowing for the zoning for retirement villages in a wider range of areas
  • incentivise the integration of villages within local community and offer rate rebates
  • set targets for retirement living housing and that approvals should be fast-tracked.

Mary Wood, executive director of Retirement Living Council, said that purpose-built homes in retirement communities that were well located and designed to support older Australians to be happy, independent and socially engaged was an important goal, “but not one that our planning systems are well placed to achieve.”

“Aged care enjoys significant subsidies from government as well as a raft of land use and tax policy support. All retirement village owners and developers need in order to build more is land use policy that facilitates rather than hinders development,” said Ms Wood.

Difficulties facing developers

The report found that the retirement living sector found it difficult to compete with mainstream property developers for land and faced a range of costs that other developers do not. Over 50 per cent of developers previously surveyed had pulled out of retirement living projects due to issues with unsupportive provisions.

“There is a sense of bewilderment in the industry that retirement villages have not reached the status of a national industry priority receiving direct and clear policy support,” the report found.

RPS regional technical director Désirée Houston-Jones said taxpayers would face higher aged care costs if policies were not changed to support retirement living developments as the population ages.

“Just as our society makes provision for other social needs, such as schools, hospitals and public transport, so too do governments at all levels need to act quickly to facilitate more retirement villages in the locations where older Australians want to live,” she said.

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