Real estate developers in the country are increasingly turning to a
mostly untapped segment where demand is on the rise - senior homes - even as
there's a slowdown in the overall housing market.
Builders such as Tata Housing, Paranjape Schemes, Adani
Realty, Silverglades and Brigade have started setting up specially designed
homes targeted at well-to-do seniors who have enough money and might want to
live independently after retirement. And, unlike old-age homes of the past,
most these senior home projects are part of larger projects and townships.
"Today, builders realise that this could be a differentiating
factor in their projects and could attract an entirely new market, which has
been untapped so far," said Arun Gupta, chief executive officer at Age
Ventures India, a private, non-profit trust that works with builders to design
and manage senior homes. The growth opportunity is big - in 2012, India had 100
million senior citizens and the number is expected to double by 2030.
"India currently contributes less than 1 per cent of the global
senior living industry," said Manish Kumar, managing director for
strategic consulting at property consultancy JLL India, highlighting the huge
demand and supply gap of the sector - and its growth potential. According to
JLL India, there are around 30-35 senior living projects in the country. So,
what is the facilities senior home projects offer?
Usually, one or two bedroom units; most of these homes have wider
doors and bigger bathrooms for wheelchair access. Other finer details builders
keep in mind include positioning grab rails at strategic places and ensuring
that switch points are at wheelchair height rather than at the bottom. The
apartment complexes come with facilities such as physio rooms, doctor-oncall,
nurses and a common dining room if someone doesn't want to cook.
Gupta of Age Ventures said a lot of people in the 54-72 age bracket
have been buying these senior homes because they want to live independently. He
said Age Ventures has tie-ups with hospitals to provide medical care to seniors
living in the homes it manages.
The firm has, for example, tied up with Columbia Asia Hospital in
Ahmedabad where it is working with Adani Realty for a senior home project.
Similarly , it has tie-ups with Artemis in Gurgaon for a Silverglades project
and NH Hospitals in Bengaluru for a Brigade project. Adani Realty is building a
senior home project within its township project Shantigram in Ahmedabad.
"Till now there were no service providers catering to this
segment. Most facilities for seniors were run by charitable trusts and were
mostly for the lower income category ," says Dipesh Roy, vice president,
marketing, at Adani Realty .
Paranjape Schemes has so far developed six such projects - five in
Pune and one in Bengaluru - under its brand specifically for senior living,
Athashri. Company chairman Shrikant Paranjape said it will start three more
projects in the country this financial year and is also reviewing three
projects in San Jose, USA, to finalise one to target senior Indians living
there.
Om Ahuja, CEO, residential, at
Bengaluru-based Brigade Group, said many friends are coming in groups to buy
assisted living homes primarily keeping in mind their retirement. "People
who are in their early and mid-40s are planning for future and are investing in
retirement or assisted living homes as the children will eventually settle down
abroad post study," he said.Tara
Singh Vachani, CEO at Antara Senior Living, which has a project coming up in
Dehradun, said, "Priority for Antara is to create vibrant residential
communities."
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