Veteran NZ retirement village operator LifeCare is responding to strong demand for their six star village in the centre of London by escalating prices by 60% in 10 months.
Last October we reported that LifeCare is building a 109 apartment plus 30 bed aged care facility opposite Battersea Park with village units priced from $675K to $3.4M. This week they have opened their demonstration suite with “prices for the remaining apartments ranging from $1.1M to $5.54M”.
NZ’s LifeCare owner is Cliff Cook. LifeCare has 58% of the venture while American billionaire Sam Zell has 33%. The land and planning costs in Central London doesn’t come cheap – their investment before construction passed the $100M mark.
Cook points out that the population within a 5 km radius of the site is the wealthiest in the UK and is equal in population of the whole of New Zealand. Check their website HERE.
The UK retirement village sector has just launched its own industry association. They only have 150,000 retirement village units nationally, the equivalent of 1% penetration. The UK has 10 million people age 60+.
Two years ago they have launched an industry association called ARCO. It currently has 22 members, representing more than 250 retirement communities, approximately 50% of all housing with care schemes and includes both private and not-for-profit providers.
Check ARCO out HERE
