Derek McMillan of Australian Unity foresees the emergence of brands as being vital to village operators to underwrite their credibility. He also predicted that operators will seek out partners that have both strong brands and large membership bases that will deliver resident prospects. He gave as an example the St.Ives Group in Perth selling just under 50% of its business with eight villages and care services to the RAC (old Royal Automobile Club) with over 600,000 members. (St.Ives has agreements in place to sell out the remainder over the next few years).

Others predicted that private operators will joint venture with NFP’s, to leverage their brands and constituencies.