Retirement village industry snapshot

A national retirement village database launched by financial management firm Jones Lang La Salle reveals that nearly 25 per cent of existing national retirement village stock is at least 30 years old.

But the report also says that there are a lot of villages ready to come online in the near future.

The industry snapshot compiles information from 1,721 villages across the country. And while 65 per cent of them are owned by the not-for-profit sector, 56 per cent are controlled by for-profit operators.

The database shows a fragmented industry with over 600 owners – and 71 per cent of them only operate one village.

An average-sized village in today’s market has 60 units that figure is likely to grow if developments that are in the planning stage now are anything to go by.

“As you would expect, the more populous states have a greater number of villages and units,” said Jones Lang LaSalle’s National Head of Health and Aged Care Services, Peter McMullen (pictured).

“NSW leads with 33 per cent of the market – however the state has a lower percentage of individual units, so the average size of villages is lower in NSW than some of the less populous states.”

The biggest growth, however, is in Queensland and Western Australia.