To show which areas are in need of new retirement housing and which suffer a surfeit, our experienced consultants produced top ten lists of the UK’s most over-served and under-served areas.
Retirement Homesearch Managing Director, Nick Freeth, said:
“Buyers in the retirement housing market are more practically-minded than they let on. While dreaming of watching the sun set over the sea from their own private apartment, when it comes to making the commitment they’ll more often opt for quiet areas close to their life-long homes, near family and friends, and close to amenities.
“Developers know that buyers want stunning views and the promise of a lifestyle, and they know that these dreams make for good marketing literature. But titillated though they may be by this, retirees still mostly stay close to home and prioritise practicalities.
“The upshot is that while Britain’s beautiful coastal towns are brimming with great retirement communities, the suburbs and small towns that offer the environment most see as conducive to a good retirement remain under-served.
“Retirement Homesearch is the country’s largest specialist retirement estate agency by some considerable distance. Insights from our 100 or so viewings a month, nationwide, give a useful perspective on the retirement housing market. And it is of course an issue of great national significance: while the older generation are so under-served, they will often sit on the housing wealth they hold, which doesn’t help the wider population.”
The Quarter 2 issue also contains comment from Dr Barbara Humberstone, Professor Emeritus of the Sociology of Sport and Outdoor Education, Buckinghamshire New University, on the importance of the outdoor environment to retirement housing.
