Apartments for aged in vogue
Retirement homes, or senior citizen living spaces, are becoming big business in the country.
Senior housing is a $25-billion industry worldwide, according to Jones Lang LaSalle India. India has an approximate demand for 3 lakh such homes prized at over $1 billion.
The massive demand for flats or townships for senior citizen with or without of assisted living for example housekeeping and medical care, is creating a price spiral with flats selling between Rs 60 lakh and Rs 1 crore and above.
In the words of industry veterans
B. Sridhar, national director (social infrastructure practice), Jones Lang LaSalle India said, “The concept of homes for aged has undergone a sea-change, with the name itself now being senior living or assisted living. The services offered include fulfilling the social, security, healthcare, administrative, food and other requirements, including understanding what the requirements of a 60-year-old person are against those of a 70-year-old.”
“In fact, the entire structure of senior living today is designed keeping in mind the requirement of seniors.”
To tap the growing demand for specialised housing for senior citizens, many real estate developers are coming up with exclusive sub-projects within major township plans.
Extra care taken while building housing properties for the elderly
Housing properties for senior citizen planned and maintained with a focus on special needs of senior citizens who need care and assistance with growing age. To make life easier for the elderly these are provided with grab rails, anti-skid tiles, passage ways for wheelchairs and other features.
Anubhav Jain, director Silverglades, which is to come with a premium senior living apartment complex at its residential project in the Delhi NCR region said, “There is a huge market for specialised living in India though projects have just started coming up. Today there is a need for space that purely caters to senior citizens, which are safe, with 24-hour doctors on call and equipped to handle their needs.”
Around 30 senior living projects are in the pipeline in India, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle. There are projects in the offing in Calcutta, Kochi, Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Pune and Goa.
Manish Arora, director of UCC Care, which is working on related projects in Delhi said, “Besides preparing for nursing, medical care, housekeeping assistance, we had to plan in a way that the housing complex was within a distance of a kilometre from hospitals, golf clubs, banks and the railway station, as senior citizens will wish to continue a healthy outgoing life even after moving into such complexes.”
Sridhar added, “Most of the initial senior living projects were positioned at the affordable segment, bearing in mind the fact that the end consumers were senior citizens with limited resources. Now, there has been a gradual shift with the emergence of financially independent and lifestyle-oriented seniors.”
In these apartments services are not cheap. On a per square feet basis, it can vary from Rs 3,000 to Rs 20,000 per person per month.
Source: The Telegraph
Anubhav Jain, B. Sridhar, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Delhi-NCR region, Goa, Jones Lang LaSalle India, Kochi, Manish Arora, Railway Station, Senior citizen, Silverglades, UCC care
