RETIREMENT VILLAGE FOR THE ELDERLY

Abstract

Although retirement villages have existed in overseas countries, it is still a new concept in Singapore. If there is a rush by private developers to capitalise on the growth and wealth of today's elderly, this will yield beautiful developments that are neither functional nor flexible. This will result in the difficulty to sell them to the senior consumers. Retirement villages differ from institutional homes whereby most of the retirement villages' residents are demand-driven rather than need-driven, that is, they choose to live in the village. As this is a new concept, an analysis should be conducted to pinpoint the specific needs of the target market. In this study, the perception of the consumers and their needs will be analysed from a survey carried out on a sample population. The findings show that the setting up of a retirement village is well accepted by the consumers but the demand is not very significant. The results also show that the Asian tradition of parents living with their children are not very strong reflecting that the present and future elderly are more independent. Thus, retirement villages which foster an independent living environment can be seen as an ideal form of housing for them. As this is a new concept, it may take time for them to have a better understanding of this form of development before there will be a demand for retirement villages.