Senior Living – An Emerging Concept in India
There is an increasing desire of today’s senior population to lead a secure, independent and productive life after retirement.
16 Aug 2018
India is currently witnessing a demographic shift, owing to a steady increase in life expectancy on the back of improved healthcare access. Consider the fact that our much touted “demographic dividend”, our urban youth population, will reach a median age of about 29 years in less than a decade (source: UN-HABITAT), making us one of the youngest nations globally. Such benefits, however, come with their own realities including an equally large ageing population in the next few decades. In recent years there has also been an aspirational change in the mind-set of senior citizens in general. There is an increasing desire of today’s senior population to lead a secure, independent and productive life after retirement. This growing trend has translated into an opportunity for real estate developers to provide residential products customized to the specific needs of the elderly in India.
While the Southern part of the country was one of the early adapters of the concept of senior living, we are witnessing projects coming up across several parts of the country in recent times. With affordability being a key factor for end-users, developers of such projects need to keep construction costs as low as possible, hence it needs to be in the peripheral areas of cities where such large tracts of land are more affordable than locations near the city center. There are several senior living projects in different stages of development across India. These are coming up in Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi in the South, Bhiwandi, Nagpur, Pune and Goa in West, Sohna, Bhopal, Jaipur, Punjab and Dehradun in the North and Kolkata in the East.
To ensure that senior living projects are viable, there are several amenities that require to be part of the project. To begin with, these projects need to have basic amenities including 24X7 power and water supply, 100% power back up, security, maintenance and housekeeping. Other specialized offerings for such projects include, assisted care for the elderly and ailing, dedicated medical staff and tie-ups with surrounding hospitals, in-house healthcare offerings (medicine store, emergency response system, doctor on call, nurses, etc), transport facilities to and from surrounding social spaces (parks, malls, restaurants), recreational facilities, community rooms, concierge services for day to day requirements of the residents and so on. While the finer details would vary from project to project, these are some of the key amenities which should be part of any senior living project in India.
Over the past two years, several regulatory reforms have brought about a change to the real estate sector in the country. Increasing transparency coupled with a changing consumer mindset has led to confidence returning to the market and the emergence of alternate asset classes. Such assets are also garnering the interest of investors who can see the long-term benefits in the changed environment. While such new formats might see a comparatively slower pace of expansion vis-à-vis other formats such as Tech Parks and Logistics Parks, the growth of this sunrise segment is imminent in the long-term, given a sustained demand for the same from a large aging population in decades to come.
While the Southern part of the country was one of the early adapters of the concept of senior living, we are witnessing projects coming up across several parts of the country in recent times. With affordability being a key factor for end-users, developers of such projects need to keep construction costs as low as possible, hence it needs to be in the peripheral areas of cities where such large tracts of land are more affordable than locations near the city center. There are several senior living projects in different stages of development across India. These are coming up in Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi in the South, Bhiwandi, Nagpur, Pune and Goa in West, Sohna, Bhopal, Jaipur, Punjab and Dehradun in the North and Kolkata in the East.
To ensure that senior living projects are viable, there are several amenities that require to be part of the project. To begin with, these projects need to have basic amenities including 24X7 power and water supply, 100% power back up, security, maintenance and housekeeping. Other specialized offerings for such projects include, assisted care for the elderly and ailing, dedicated medical staff and tie-ups with surrounding hospitals, in-house healthcare offerings (medicine store, emergency response system, doctor on call, nurses, etc), transport facilities to and from surrounding social spaces (parks, malls, restaurants), recreational facilities, community rooms, concierge services for day to day requirements of the residents and so on. While the finer details would vary from project to project, these are some of the key amenities which should be part of any senior living project in India.
Over the past two years, several regulatory reforms have brought about a change to the real estate sector in the country. Increasing transparency coupled with a changing consumer mindset has led to confidence returning to the market and the emergence of alternate asset classes. Such assets are also garnering the interest of investors who can see the long-term benefits in the changed environment. While such new formats might see a comparatively slower pace of expansion vis-à-vis other formats such as Tech Parks and Logistics Parks, the growth of this sunrise segment is imminent in the long-term, given a sustained demand for the same from a large aging population in decades to come.