1. Attitudes and values in older people’s housing development
Dr Friederike Ziegler
Dept. of Urban Studies & Planning

2. Overview
Based on interviews with 10 developers of specialist retirement housing
Who are we building for?
How well do you know your markets?
Are we responding to or shaping markets?
The right product, the right place, at the right time
The future is now- the battle for the mid-markets
Lessons for the North of England
21/02/2019
© The University of Sheffield

3. Who are we building for?
“I always ask myself: Would I want to live here?”
“I haven’t built the scheme yet that I would want to live in.”
“I live in one of our schemes”
How honest are developers when they say that they design housing by what they would expect and aspire to themselves? This may be an initial intention, but to what extent does this intention get compromised in the development process?
Developers are aware that they are building not only for current but also for future generations of older people, including themselves. What does that future look like? Are current schemes designed to be flexible and adaptable enough to allow for future changes in social attitudes and behaviours? E.g. Whilst current generation have grown used to living in housing as a nuclear family, with children leaving as young adults to establish their own home, we can already see in places like London, that young people cannot afford to buy or even rent their own exclusive home, and have to share for years; may even return to live at home. At the same time as people are living longer without provision for appropriate care (because of cuts to social services) will we see more older people living with their adult children?
21/02/2019
© The University of Sheffield

4. How well do you know your markets?
Market research & trends
SHMA & demand
Gut feeling
Private developers in particular spend a lot of time and resources on researching their potential customer base, their financial background, wishes, habits and values, even including the profile of a typical son or daughter of the older person. They actively seek out this information in order to gain an intimate understanding of their markets. The information is collected by market research companies which may also be able to detect new trends in people’s behaviours.
Other developers, particularly HA depend largely on locally collected and provided data such as Housing Market assessments for information. These assessments aim to predict housing demand in specific areas of a city.
Apart from statistics, graphs or charts which research may provide, a lot of successful developers also spend a considerable amount of time engaging with and listening to their customers in personal meetings. Knowledge derived from these personal experiences then becomes part of the ‘gut feeling’ that successful developers use to make decisions on whether a location is suitable, or a product needs adapting.
One of the biggest questions is often around: how far are older people willing to move for specialist retirement housing. There is an assumption that older people want to stay in their neighbourhoods and would move only 2-3 miles from their current location. What we don’t know is whether this is largely because there are no attractive housing options being offered in other locations. Some developers of premium retirement housing chart their potential customer base within a wider geographical area because they are confident that their quality product will attract people sufficiently to move 20 miles or more.
21/02/2019
© The University of Sheffield

5. Responding to or shaping markets?
Entrepreneurial versus responsive approaches to development
Lifestyle versus need led markets
New products need careful marketing and explanations. Manage expectations. Can challenge customers own values and attitudes. How far developers go with innovation without alienating their customers? Tricky balance, needs a lot of education of the public and policy maker/ planners- shaping the image of a whole sector. Higher risk? More likely to be private developer who maintain control over the housing products and development processes.
Responsive approaches react to established demand and identified markets. Work within the existing value systems. Lower risk? More likely to be HA.
As older people are becoming increasingly aware of available options for housing in later life, they are beginning to move earlier in order to improve their quality of life. Some developers are already aware that there is now a trend for more lifestyle related moves to retirement housing rather than needs based moves. This means that people are very active and related expectations change, but also that there are likely to be more couples moving together, and active couples expect more living space.
On the other hand there is some evidence that lifestyle movers object to living in the same accommodation as frailer older people who require higher levels of care. Those ‘younger old’ do not like to be confronted with what their own future might look like which is part of societal attitudes to ageing: it only happens to other people, not to me; if I ignore old age, it will go away…
21/02/2019
© The University of Sheffield

6. Right product, right place and right time
City centre
development
Downsizing
Older people’s housing in the city centre in Sheffield is considered by most as ahead of its time. Needs regeneration of the city centre first to make it more vibrant and safe for older people, see Leeds and Manchester. Some pioneers are already interested in downsizing into the city centre, but is there a wider market for this type of city living in industrial cities? Do most older people want to remain in the leafy suburbs? Dependent on the wider regeneration of the city centre and the diversification of the housing offer to include family housing and downsizing/ rightsizing options. Most developers were cautious about the potential market for city living.
Developers are also seeking out other potential models for older people’s housing, such as intergenerational housing; co-housing is still very niche and of interest to commercial developers; however there are an increasing number of co-housing projects in the UK and Europe.
Although there is a great but hidden demand for downsizing properties, these are only just beginning to be considered by a few house builders. Marketing them can be challenging, but some evidence suggests that good quality housing in a reasonable location will attract downsizers without having to be labelled in that way.
21/02/2019
© The University of Sheffield

7. The battle for the mid-markets
Housing Associations target for sale markets and shared ownership
Private developers target the mid-markets
Privately rented market
The retirement and specialist housing market is being cut up: developer specialize in a particular product, often in particular areas, and target markets. In the past ten years specialist housing has largely been provided for two groups: socially rented, and premium markets. The middle markets have largely been neglected. However this is now changing for a number of reasons.
All three products would be targeting similar sites to locate their product, where land values are reasonable and locations are attractive for buyers and private renters. Does this mean that competition for sites will increase? Who would be likely to profit from this?
Mid markets are deepest and so far neglected. Mid markets can be divided into three sub-markets and developers will target their product to one of these sub markets.
21/02/2019
© The University of Sheffield

8. Lessons for the North of England
Need for new types of partnerships
LA need to be proactive and engage in positive narratives
Encourage innovation and different housing and development models.
Listen to your customers
THINK AGEING…differently
21/02/2019
© The University of Sheffield