Realtors see massive opportunity in India's growing elderly population

By 2026, India’s elderly could rise to 173 million, more than double what it was two decades ago and accounting for 12.5 per cent of the population, a figure that could rise to 19.5 per cent by 2050. The projected numbers provided by the Population Census 2011 will amount to more than the entire population of Russia. For the real estate sector, it represents massive opportunities, particularly as current housing for senior people is minimal. Developers are excited about the potential and say they see interest in the sector accelerating. Ankur Gupta, joint managing director of Ashiana Housing, which has built around 1,800 apartments for senior citizens, says that an annual conclave they organise on senior housing usually draws up to 50 delegates, both from real estate and health care. This year’s gathering expects to see around 150 delegates. 

Gupta points to two projects he executed in Jaipur recently: one for regular customers and one for senior living. “When we opened, booking for regular customers was at Rs 1,450 per square foot and Rs 1,350 for senior living. By the time one phase was up and ready, it had become Rs 1,800 for regular apartments and Rs 2,100 for senior living,” said Gupta. His senior citizen business has gone up by as much as 10 per cent over the past six months at a time when most of the industry is hurting and seeing a slowdown. 

According to Adarsh Narahari, managing director for Mantri Primus Lifespaces, the senior living section of the Mantri Group, ‘if you see in Bengaluru, apartments go for Rs 5,000 a square foot but senior living will go for ten per cent more”. The group has five more senior living projects planned, with three for Bengaluru and one each in Pune and Chennai.  

“It’s a very exciting space but the idea is to develop a continuous care retirement community which offers services as required. In the bigger picture the market will see senior living as the norm in the near future,” he said. 

Other industry experts who declined to be named say that in the last three years, several players have jumped into the space. “The Brigade Group and Mantri Developers kicked off projects in the last couple of years and Tata Housing launched one project in Goa and one in Bengaluru,” said one expert.

Last year, the Gagan Group launched a project in Lonavala featuring luxury apartments for senior citizens. Other prominent players in the sector include Paranjape Schemes, Ansal API, the Ashiana Group and Covai. 

Most existing and planned senior living projects are in the satellite towns of major metros and include Kochi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Rishikesh, Goa, and Mathura. Ashiana has plans to build a senior living facility in Uttarpara in Kolkata on 10 acres of land. 

Kamal Khetan, chairman and managing director of Sunteck Realty which focuses on luxury real estate (amongst other segments), says his development plate is full right now but he does not rule out senior living in the future. “Senior housing is a massive opportunity which at the same time adds to the triple bottom line of giving back to society which is always a plus for any industry.” The current shortage of housing can be seen in Anarock Property Consultants research which suggests that around 4,500 senior living units are available in the market; approximately another 2,000 units are in different stages of construction; and about 10 new projects are slated to come up over the next few years. 

In senior living, the establishment of standards is vital for success. A study by Tata Trusts in conjunction with the Samarth Community, an organisation serving the elderly, and with technical guidance from the United Nations Population Fund, came up with five key result areas and 28 performance metrics that offer a set of measurable standards for senior housing facilities. The five key areas include infrastructure, physical needs, safety and security, dignity and respect, and management of the facility.   

Senior housing has its own categories. Anuj Puri, chairman at Anarock, says that senior living refers to homes for adults over the age of 55 looking to live independently in a peer environment where they take care of themselves. Such projects provide facilities for recreation and socialising and include a club house, a health club or gym, and management services. Assisted living is another category which pertains to homes for adults who need assistance. While they may not be bedridden, these senior citizens may require full time help with personal hygiene, ambulation, and feeding. 

The third category is old age homes run by NGOs or government agencies and inhabited by elderly people who can no longer live with their families or are homeless. “It’s important to have standards when one notes that there's a tenfold requirement for elderly care compared to what exists today and that the large majority of people in that demographic are lower income,” said Sugandhi Baliga, head, geriatrics, who led the Tata Trusts study. 

Referring to the fact that there is currently no regulatory mechanism for senior living, she added that “without minimum regulations, it’s virtually impossible to ensure the expected standard of living for people in their sunset years”. 

With the growth of the nuclear family, fuelled by children migrating to different cities for work and the gradual disintegration of the joint family across communities and states, more and more elderly Indians will have to consider if they are prepared to leave their homes to live in a communal set up.

For Gupta, the pivotal change India is witnessing is that no one is ‘putting’ senior citizens anywhere. “They are taking their own call to reside in a specialised facility voluntarily because, the way they see it, they have a life outside of their family commitments and want to pursue it.” 

By way of support to older Indians, the 2018 Budget provided benefits through the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana under which they receive 8 per cent returns from LIC. But some experts believe more needs to be done. “Sops being offered by the Central government to incentivise private players’ participation are minimal. It is time the government also intervened to provide affordable homes to this steadily growing segment,” said Puri.