Zoopla.co.uk Blog

Is the retirement village dead?

December 23, 2010 at 11:50 AM Lawrence Hall 2 comments

This is a legacy post from the findaproperty.com blog which is now maintained as an archive within the Zoopla blog. Links have been preserved.

Exclusive luxury living for active independent people over 55.  Sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Nothing like what you’d expect from a retirement village or, heaven forbid, a nursing home.

And that’s kind of the point.

Woodland Grove in Aberdeenshire is billing itself as one of the first developments of its kind in Scotland. It is, according to the effusive sales shpiel, neither a nursing home nor a retirement village. Instead it claims to be part of a new trend among older people who are not yet ready for retirement but who are looking to downsize, free up money and ensure a comfortable and manageable “third age” – which is what we’re calling our twilight years these days.

As far as Woodland Grove is concerned, this later life renaissance is taking place on a 14 acre site at Milltimber, a semi-rural locale close to Aberdeen’s West End. There are one or two bedroom apartments, most with balconies, plus communal areas, lovely grounds and nearby golf courses, gyms and spas.

While it’s easy to have a good-natured giggle at the expense of the sales patter employed by these over-55s villages (who can forget the ill-fated Purley Gates development, near Croydon, which not-so-surprisingly failed to attract much interest from buyers back in 2005), the fact remains that as a nation we’re getting older, but staying healthier. Which means that most of us are going to get to a stage where we’re eligible for Woodland Grove, or something similar, relatively soon ourselves.

It’s not just the sales people who are spinning the over-55 living concept into a phenomenon. The demand for this style of living is now recognised by demographic commentators and retirement sector watchers. For instance, the 2010 Knight Frank Retirement Report highlighted the popularity of early downsizing at a time when the need for traditional residential care is diminishing. The concept of exclusive luxury living for independent active over 55s is also a well-tested concept in America.

One thing’s for sure, it’s certainly struck a chord at Woodland Grove were apartments in the four-storey refurbished Victorian granite building  are selling like the proverbial hotcake with over half of the homes already sold and occupied by active over 55s. Prices range from £195,000 to £345,000.

Entry filed under: Architecture & Design, Buying & Selling, General, House Prices, Renting & Letting. Tags: Aberdeen, buying and selling, golf courses, luxury, over 55s, property in scotland, retirement, scotland.