London-based insurer Legal & General has entered the retirement housing sector via a joint venture with the English Care Villages, a local operator and developer of senior living accommodation.
The creation of the joint venture - Inspired Villages Group - follows the acquisition of the assets of two joint ventures between English Care Villages and Places for People for around £40 mln (€44 mln), L&G said in a press releases.
L&G aims to become a leading player in the field and said it would provide long-term financing to support the acquisition of 'several sites' per year. This should lead to the creation of around 3,000 new, quality homes over the next five years, the company said.
Later living is a classic example of underinvestment, L&G's CEO Nigel Wilson said. 'It has now been added to Legal & General's £15 bn UK direct investment programme.'
According to Phil Bayliss, head of Later Living at Legal & General Capital, over 3 million over-65s are looking to downsize and only 7,000 housing with care properties are being built each year. 'The UK suffers from a chronic undersupply of age-specific housing as well as spiralling health and social care spend. We believe our long-term capital can deliver significant housing, health and wellbeing benefits for those in later life.'
Commenting on the joint venture, Jamie Bunce, CEO of Inspired Villages, said: 'Our well-qualified, highly motivated operational and development teams are very excited about what can be achieved through Inspired Villages with Legal & General’s support. We can truly make a difference to so many people's lives in ensuring superbly designed living environments are created across the UK.'
The UK continues to have a chronic shortfall of over 100,000 homes per year. According to L&G’s Last Time Buyers report, there are 3.3 million last-time buyers looking to rightsize in the UK. The over-65s age bracket is growing five times faster than the working age population, yet only 7,000 homes were delivered to this sector last year making it the most under-supplied area of the housing market.
