Optimism, the title of LEADERS SUMMIT 2024, continues to be the dominant theme in the retirement village sector as we move towards the end of the financial year.
In this issue, we report on Mark Bindon's speech at LEADERS SUMMIT where he revealed a new venture with former Oak Tree Group partner Franco De Pasquale. It's up-market, high end, and boutique.
He talks about a "New” model brought on by the increasing high cost of construction and the shortage of land. He proved the doomsayers wrong with Oak Tree, can he do it again with a village of 20 to 35 reasonably rich residents?
The SOURCE will bring you at least two land acquisitions by major operators in the next month and there are several new development applications for retirement living in this newsletter.
Retirement Living Council Executive Director Daniel Gannon said confidence in retirement construction activity is at its highest since December 2021, outperforming other sub-sectors, and is forecast to be greater than residential, office, retail and hotels combined.
However, the sector should be wary of incoming headwinds.
“There is still much uncertainty across all property sub-sectors, with construction prices, materials and labour continuing to drive uncertainty,” said Daniel.
“The other variable for the retirement living sector is legislative reform, which is taking place in every corner of the country and impacting two thirds of Australia’s retirement living markets."
The increase in construction costs and the demand for tradies for building the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games will hurt the sector, and the draconian planning laws planned for NSW (read this story in the newsletter) will certainly exacerbate this pain.
The retirement village sector is at the beginning of a silver decade – but it needs support from all sides.
