Retirement villages offer two types of accommodation for you to consider during your downsizing decision– apartments and villas.
Retirement village apartments
Apartments are becoming more prevalent in the industry, particularly for new retirement village developments, because it is the only way developers can build communities in central metro, lifestyle or suburban locations where land sizes are smaller and priced at a premium. We call these developments “vertical” retirement villages to distinguish them from the older “broadacre” style, which can look like small townhouse developments through to small suburbs!
Apartments in retirement villages are not that different to standard residential apartments, although retirement village developers will usually pay greater attention to accessibility issues such as wider corridors, bigger bathrooms, etc. Often, you will see the apartment advertised as having been built to a “gold” or “silver” liveability standard. You can read more about those standards HERE if you are interested. The higher the rating the easier it should be for someone to “age in place”, as the doorways are a little wider, the shelves a little lower and the bathroom a little bigger (wheelchair or wheelie-walker accessible).
Apartments can be studio (rare these days as they are too small for most people), one, two or three bedrooms.
Serviced Apartments
Some retirement villages offer serviced apartments. Serviced apartments are generally smaller than standard residential apartments and are usually only studio or one bedroom in size. Sometimes they may not even have a kitchen, and feature just a microwave and a hot plate.
The serviced apartment concept is best explained as “aged care lite” – Residents pay additional fees and receive services such as a weekly clean, linen change and heavy laundry, plus one or all of breakfast, lunch and dinner daily through the onsite restaurant. Some sites may also offer light care services such as domestic assistance or medication management on a fee-for-service basis.
Serviced apartments are ideal for residents who need additional care but may not feel ready for the more comprehensive care provided by a residential aged care facility. Unfortunately, the high cost of living in serviced apartments has reduced their popularity with the market and many have closed or converted to standard retirement living apartments without the additional services. No-one seems to be building new serviced apartment complexes, but the good news is that some retirement village operators have introduced a more comprehensive model where aged care level services are delivered under the State Retirement Villages Act rather than the Commonwealth Aged Care Act. Examples include Ryman, Odyssey, Summerset and LDK.
Retirement village villas
In the retirement village industry, the term “villas” is used to describe free-standing homes or duplexes/triplexes, typically of only one level in height. Villas are the primary offering at older retirement villages built across sprawling, broadacre sites. They can be one, two or three bedrooms, and are not dissimilar to a standard residential house.
As noted previously, villas are the primary offering at older retirement village sites. Older retirement villages were originally developed in the outer suburbs where larger blocks of land were able to be secured, but now find themselves well-located as urban sprawl has caught up and moved beyond.
Older villages have older-style homes: Brick or rendered brick and tiled roofs on a concrete slab. While they may look dated on the outside, the internal fixtures, fittings and furnishings of the villas are regularly refreshed to meet new compliance standards and buyer demand. Commercially, most retirement village contracts incentivise the exiting resident and village operator to re-sell the unit at a higher price, which is typically achieved by renovating the unit.
The last word
Many people have a clear preference for a villa or apartment. Some prefer the spaciousness of a villa and are willing to trade off a modern village for the additional space and yard. Others prefer the convenience and location of an apartment complex.
Most people buy into a retirement village as part of a downsizing decision and yes, retirement village units are smaller than suburban family homes. Understand that space is now premium and embrace the liberating process of de-cluttering and getting rid of “stuff”!