Construction started last month on our new retirement living apartments at Kerikeri Retirement Village. Reservations for the new units are already starting to come in. Enquiries and interest levels are high, particularly from people in the Mid North and surrounding areas. We will start issuing Occupational Rights Agreements from April this year.
We are delighted to have seen such strong demand from locals. This real-life demand bears out much of what we thought we knew about the local retirement living landscape.
We expect construction to be completed by April 2020. In the meantime, I am leading the planning and consenting work around the Village’s next development project, the construction of 19 architecturally designed low-maintenance villas with access off Hawkings Crescent.
Last year we unveiled plans to buy as many as 42 neighbouring properties to build retirement accommodation for the growing number of elderly in the area. We want to build 200 more independent living units for up to approximately 250 retirees and expand the number of beds in our care facility from 66 to 100.
Globally, demand for aged care and retirement accommodation is escalating quickly. There is significant social and economic upside to this “silver tsunami” for the Mid North if it can be properly harnessed. Every 100 independent retiree living units are supported directly and indirectly by 64 people so growth in the aged care sector means job creation, more education and training, and GDP growth from construction and an expanded population base.
