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Octopus returns to housing with retirement scheme
The private investor that recently disbanded its affordable housing venture has launched a new £200m business to provide homes for retirees.
Octopus Healthcare, a subsidiary of Octopus Investments, has joined forces with property management and development company Places for People to launch Liberty Retirement Living, which aims to deliver 25 retirement villages and 2,700 units over five years.
It already has planning permission for six retirement villages and plans to deliver seven, comprising 700 homes, in its first year.
The announcement comes less than two months after Octopus Quality Affordable Housing was wound down without any homes having been built. Octopus Investments said the anticipated pipeline of opportunities had not emerged.
The investor’s healthcare subsidiary already manages £1bn of assets, including retirement villages. It has contributed £180m to Liberty. Places for People, which owns and manages more than 182,000 residential properties, added £20m.
Jane Barker, managing director of Liberty Retirement Living, said: “We want to create both the building and service offering aimed at a younger market, including offering contemporary homes that are easy to look after. Most importantly, however, the properties will feel like home – with a more personal environment and a selection of more targeted facilities and services.”
Shay Ramalingam, director at Octopus Healthcare, said: “We’re currently invested in more than 200 healthcare facilities across the UK and we see retirement villages as probably the largest growth property sector in this country. Not only are we living for longer, but our quality of life as we age is improving, meaning we want more from the places we live.”
According to the Office for National Statistics, over-65s account for a fifth of the UK’s population. The real estate consultancy Knight Frank estimates that 25% of over-55s want to move to retirement housing in the future.
