Senior rental market set to boom

Senior rental market set to boom

0:01 AM, 27th January 2025, About 14 hours ago 2

Text Size

The UK’s senior living rental sector is poised for a dramatic expansion, with private rental stock predicted to rocket by 150% over the next five years.

That’s according to Knight Frank’s inaugural NextGen Living 2025 report.

Researchers surveyed 56 leading institutional investors managing more than £60 billion in ‘living Sector assets.

They found that the proportion of investors in the seniors housing rental sector will nearly double by 2029, surging from 21% currently to 39%.

Projected growth in rental stock

The firm’s head of global living sectors research, Matthew Bowen, said: “The projected growth in rental stock is a strong start, however, it is still just scratching the surface of demand.

“Today, half a million seniors rent in the residential sector, many in homes that no longer meet their needs as they age.”

He added: “Drawing parallels with the mature North American market, where more than 90% of seniors housing stock is rental, our research shows that the UK is starting to exhibit similar characteristics, from customer profiles, void rates and growth trajectories.”

Rental housing numbers

Knight Frank forecasts that rental housing numbers will rise from 4,100 to more than 10,000 by 2029.

Despite this growth, the sector’s rental stock will still represent only 1.2% of total specialist senior housing options.

The real estate firm also reports that the current market value of the ‘Living Sectors’ has reached £212 billion – the seniors’ housing market is valued at £44 billion.

Investment in living sectors

Investment volumes across the living sectors, including purpose-built student accommodation, build-to-rent and seniors housing, exceeded £10 billion in 2024.

Survey respondents also plan to invest an extra £45 billion over the next five years across these sectors.

However, investment in senior housing is emerging as a key focus for growth.

The survey also highlights the growing influence of environmental and social considerations on investment strategies.

It found that 80% of respondents pointed to investor pressure as a primary driver for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment.

EV charging infrastructure tops the list of new project requirements, targeted by 66% of investors.

And more than half of investors are prioritising sustainable energy solutions such as heat pumps and solar power generation.


Share This Article


Comments

G Charles

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

11:06 AM, 27th January 2025, About 3 hours ago

Reply to the comment left by Jay Jordan at 27/01/2025 - 10:22
The idea of subsidizing housing is laudable, but it is unrealistic and unfair to expect developers and landowners to bear the burden. Land has embedded value due to historical government policies, and viewing it as a public asset merely "caretaked" by private owners imposes disproportionate costs on a single sector of society.

This reflects a broader failure of economic policy. Our GDP per capita, comparable to Mississippi—the poorest U.S. state—illustrates decades of stagnation. With current growth rates, catching up to the U.S. economy would take 30 years, assuming their economy stands still. Having exhausted income tax revenue, the government increasingly targets capital assets, particularly land and property, through overt taxes and covert regulations.

Affordable and social housing should be funded through general taxation, ensuring that all citizens contribute and have a say in policy. Singling out land and property owners as easy targets for revenue is inequitable. In many areas, housing construction costs now exceed property values, partly because government policies have suppressed economic growth, limiting people's ability to pay market rates. Owners who worked to acquire their assets shouldn’t be penalized for systemic failures.

The core issue lies in the government’s mismanagement of the economy and planning system. Market forces could address housing shortages by increasing supply, stabilizing prices, and enabling affordability for most citizens. For those genuinely unable to pay, state-funded solutions should be the answer—not disproportionate taxation on property owners.

Additionally, current policies exacerbate the problem. Over half of the population takes more from the system than they contribute, while high immigration rates artificially inflate GDP at the cost of declining living standards. Until these structural issues are addressed, unfairly targeting land and property owners will do little to solve the housing crisis and much to undermine economic fairness.

NewYorkie

Become a Member

If you login or become a member you can view this members profile, comments, posts and send them messages!

Sign Up

12:30 PM, 27th January 2025, About 2 hours ago

Reply to the comment left by Charles Simmons at 27/01/2025 - 11:06
'Having exhausted income tax revenue, the government increasingly targets capital assets, particularly land and property, through overt taxes and covert regulations.'

We have seen the acceleration of this by Labour, with their pensions IHT raid and 'non-dom'. But non-dom has quickly proven unworkable due to millionaires leaving in droves, and pensioners will do the same unless the pension raid is also reversed. This leaves farmers, who can't move.

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Automated Assistant Read More