This past Monday, Melbournes The Age newspaper ran a page one article of 1,000
words that raised a number of unflattering points on the village industry for the papers
752,000 readers. Amongst the observations were references to the suspicious deferred
fee model and a system that often leaves residents feeling ripped off. It also raised
the weekly fees as a low bait fee for services when a resident enters, which soars after
the first few years. It suggested intentional slow sales of vacant ILUs: In the six months
after our mother died, not one person was shown through the apartment
we continued
to pay monthly fees of over $400
causing us a lot of distress in our state of mourning
and grief.
The article also explained that fees can be anywhere between 2.5 to 10 percent of the
purchase price of a retirement unit for each year spent in the village and that smaller
operators dont have a lot of transparency in relation to what they do. Values came
under the microscope as well: This slowing demand has led to speculation that Australia
will have too many retirement units in the next few years, reducing profits and forcing
values down.


RIP: We are seeing the death of the family-run aged care operator
It feels like I am writing an obituary to family-run aged care facilities. Once the backbone of the sector, multi-generation operators are now selling out at a pace not seen before. The sell-off is accelerating, with three landmark deals in just two...
