The developments are aimed at wealthy individuals, who have to buy a term-life insurance policy with a minimum single premium of $US300,000 ($379,000) payable upfront or by annual instalments over 10 years, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Residents also pay monthly fees of about $US2,000 to cover meals, cleaning and other services.
One of the largest insurer-builders is the privately-owned Taikang Life Insurance, which has spent $1.7 billion building 12 communities with 6,600 apartments in three major Chinese cities since 2015.
The units, which range from 70sqm to 170sqm and look like serviced apartments, and are marketed as a “Happiness About Old Age Plan.”
China’s Insurance Regulatory Commission calls the communities a way “to increase the supply of resources to take care of the old, and ensure the joint development of insurance and aged-care industries.”
Should their investment pay off, we’d say the happiness would be the insurers’.
