The number of seniors housing units delivered in the UK increased by 6.4% last year, according to Knight Frank’s Seniors Housing Development Update 2023.
The report found more than 8,000 units were built last year across 145 schemes, taking the total number of complete and operational seniors housing units to 762,872 at the end of 2022.
Despite the increase in supply, Knight Frank said around 50,000 new housing units need to be built annually to accommodate the UK’s aging population
Tom Scaife, head of seniors housing at Knight Frank, said: “Unfortunately, seniors housing delivery currently only makes up a fraction of new supply. There will be an additional 4.2 million seniors by 2040, when one in four people will be aged 65 or over. Meanwhile, the under 65 population is forecasted to remain the same size over this period.
“If our tax-paying cohort isn’t changing, how is our country going to afford the increased social care needs? The simple answer is we can’t. The only thing we can do is ‘right size’ our seniors into age-appropriate housing, helping to reduce their reliance on social care and the burden on the NHS. Studies have shown residents in seniors housing schemes can save local NHS services up to 38% in costs. This has the added benefit of also releasing family housing stock back into the market. However, this will only be possible if delivery is accelerated – and fast.”
Knight Frank estimates that with current momentum – supported by the weight of capital chasing the sector – the next five years will see delivery of new units accelerate, with the total number of specialist seniors housing units in the UK expected to grow by 7.5% by 2027.
Oliver Knight, head of residential development research at Knight Frank, who conducted the research, said: “The current significant imbalance between supply and demand underscores the headroom in the market today for investors and developers to deliver age-appropriate housing, which will only increase with population growth.”
