Retirement living development land
Retirement living covers everything from a block of age-restricted apartments to an integrated retirement community with care on site. The sites are different from care home sites, and so are the buyers. We work with both.
The sector
Retirement housing is bought or rented by people who are usually in their late seventies and want to downsize without leaving their town. Schemes range from 30 to 40 apartments in a single building to communities of over a hundred homes with restaurants, wellbeing facilities and domiciliary care.
The best sites are in the centre of towns people already live in: walking distance to shops, a GP surgery and public transport, because residents walk to them every day. Care home residents generally do not, so the location test for retirement living is stricter, and it is why good retirement sites are scarce.
Planning use varies with the model. Apartments without care are usually C3 housing; schemes with a care offer may be C2 or a mix. The use class affects affordable housing requirements and therefore value, so it is one of the first questions to settle.
What SMR Land looks for
Indicative criteria. A site that misses one of them is still worth a conversation.
- Site size
- Half an acre to 3 acres
- Scheme size
- 30 to 100 apartments or cottages depending on the model
- Location
- Close to shops and amenities that residents can walk to, ideally on a bus route, in areas with an established older population
- Planning
- Brownfield or greenfield, with or without consent. Redundant commercial, former public buildings, surplus institutional land and well-located infill sites
- Tenure
- Freehold
- Structure
- Conditional contract, option or unconditional purchase
Terms explained
The words operators and agents use, in plain English.
- Integrated retirement community
- A larger scheme where residents own or rent their home and can buy care and support services on site. Sometimes called extra care or housing with care.
- Age-restricted
- Homes that can only be occupied by people over a stated age, usually 55 or 60, secured by planning condition or lease.
- C2 or C3
- Whether the scheme is treated as a residential institution (C2) or as housing (C3). It changes the affordable housing and infrastructure contributions a council can ask for, and therefore what the land is worth.
- Option agreement
- The developer pays for the right to buy the land, usually at a discount to market value, within a set period once planning is granted. The landowner is paid if and when the option is exercised.
- Catchment demand
- The number of older owner-occupiers within the local area who could afford and would want to move to the scheme.
How SMR Land helps
For developers
Site search in the towns where demand and values support retirement housing, with an early view on planning use and affordable housing exposure.
For landowners
Advice on whether retirement living or a care home is the better use for your site, and a structure that reflects it.
For investors
Introductions to consented schemes and development partners.
Related services
Submit a site.
Whether you own land, act for someone who does, or need sites for a scheme, you deal with us directly from the first conversation, straightforward and without obligation.
Seb Morris
Founder and Director