“The continuum of care model is better for the retirement living business because it opens up a new, untapped market, and it’s better for the aged care side because occupancy is higher. All the care centres at our mature villages are full” said Cam Holland, CEO of Ryman Healthcare, at the RLC conference last month.

26% of retirement village operators who formed the 2022 PwC / Property Council Retirement Census have co-located facilities.

Ryman Healthcare builds retirement villages with aged care on the same site and now offers Home Care

The SOURCE asked Ryman to verify the success of continuum of care.

• The final stage at Ryman Healthcare’s John Flynn Retirement Village in Melbourne had all 104 independent apartments pre-sold off the plans six months prior to completion.
• Demand for Deborah Cheetham Retirement Village in Ocean Grove was so strong Ryman Healthcare bought an additional 2.35ha block of land in 2021 to expand it.
• The first release of 24 assisted living suites (serviced apartments) at Deborah Cheetham sold in less than two months this year.
• Care centre occupancy at our mature villages is consistently at 100%, compared with the 89% average in StewartBrown’s recent survey.

“In New Zealand around 15% of people over 75 live in retirement villages – that’s a massive number – and virtually all of them are continuum of care. The retirement village penetration rate in Australia is less than half that.”

The SOURCE: Two elements Cam did not mention is that continuum of care needs scale to deliver, meaning up front capital investment plus a bigger workforce, but the efficiencies in marketing and shared services across village and care facilities deliver real profits to the bottom line, which translates into sustainability.