UK: Later living rentals provider Birchgrove has achieved full occupancy at two of its three trading communities.
The properties – Queensgate Apartments in Sidcup, which comprises 74 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and Woodbank Apartments in Woking, which comprises 51 one- and two-bedroom units now have waiting lists.
The occupancy rates represent a significant landmark for Birchgrove following M&G’s £69 million acquisition of the two sites in January 2022.
Honor Barratt, chief executive at Birchgrove, said: “Every day in 2024, 1,000 people in the UK will turn 80. In ten years’ time, Birchgrove will have built 1,000 units – so enough for one days increase in need, or 0.1 per cent of the more than one million retirees predicted to want to rent by then. We’re delighted to have demonstrated that the mid-market rental model works. We’re thrilled to have acquired nine sites in six years. And we’re proud to be changing older people’s lives for the better, by helping them to live more flexibly. But with two of our three operating communities already at full occupancy, the sector requires far greater investment, development and ambition to meet this surging demand.”
Many of those on the waiting lists have lived in Woking or Sidcup their whole life, and are looking to downsize from their family home into rental assisted living accommodation that is more flexible and better suited to their needs.
According to the English Housing Survey, the number of pensioners in rented accommodation is set to double to more than one million in the next decade.
Birchgrove has a further six sites across the south-east and London. Three are under construction.
