HOUSING OPTIONS FOR THE RETIREMENT YEARS

Delegates at the recent 2-day Ageing Asia Investment Forum were given a virtual tour of housing options for retirement living in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, India, Philippines, China, Singapore and Malaysia.

If the statistics released by Singapore's Housing Development Board are representative of living arrangements preferred in Asia, then housing developers here would do well to take notes. Designing housing for baby boomers can be a challenge, given their diverse needs, incomes and lifestyle expectations.

Last year high-end housing developers Frasers Centrepoint tested the market by setting aside 5% of their new projects for intergenerational homes. Marketed as dual key apartments and condo-style granny units, all units were immediately snapped up attesting to the demand for such homes.

A typical layout of a dual-key apartment. Click here to read more.

If your pockets aren't that deep, there are more affordable alternatives such as retirement villages. One good example is Dignity Lifestyle, a retirement township 90 km from Mumbai. Set amidst rolling hills and green fields, each of the 300 cottages comes with its own 100 sq ft garden.

Dignity Lifestyle homes with garden. A peek into one of the rooms (below)

You can check out the links below to view some of the retirement homes presented at the forum. It is comforting to know that when the time comes for assisted living, there are plenty of options to choose from.

Sunrise Senior Living (US)

Summerset Retirement Villages (New Zealand)

Oceania Group (New Zealand)

Cherish-Yearn Community (China)

Philippine Retirement Authority (Philippines)

NTUC Eldercare (Singapore)

Lakehill Resort City (Malaysia)

Humanitas (A must-visit site if you are interested to know more about Dr Hans Becker's Apartments for Life. Here's a short interview with the man himself.)

More about Humanitas in another post.