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© 2024 The Weekly SOURCE
Community Living
2024 Year in Review: Community Living

The Weekly SOURCE looks back at the past 12 months in the community living sector.

With its momentum hampered by high interest rates, the retirement living sector in October came under attack from the ABC, aided and abetted by Centre Alliance Federal MP Rebekha Sharkie and the Housing Aged Action Group.  

The national broadcaster also walloped Lifestyle Communities in July with unproven allegations and as its share value plunged over 50% in YTD, co-founder and Managing Director James Kelly announced his retirement and people cancelled their home purchases.

Billions more dollars have also been invested into the over 55s land lease lifestyle communities with one CEO jumping from being the pioneer of land lease to lifting the profile of seniors' rental communities.

See Ian Horswill’s recap of the year below.

January

February 

  • Three leaders of the ageing sector spoke were asked whether co-contribution would be a game-changer for retirement villages, and why with DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes and Content Editor Ian Horswill at a Westpac Conversations in Melbourne luncheon.
  • Retirement Living Council Executive Director Daniel Gannon exclusively told The Weekly SOURCE he is winning traction in securing the retirement living sector's involvement in the Australian Government's bid to create social and affordable housing.  
  • The Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA) announced "two new pivotal roles tailored to support Retirement Living and Seniors Housing operators, a sector experiencing rapid growth and transformation in aged care". Mark Prosser, ACCPA's SA/NT State Manager, is appointed Director of Retirement Living and Seniors Housing, and Mark Berezdecky as Senior Policy Advisor for Retirement Living and Seniors Housing. 
  • After almost two years at the helm of Sundale, the Sunshine Coast-based Not For Profit community provider of retirement communities, aged care centres and In-Home services, Helen Sharpley became CEO of SSO Consulting, a business advisory service.
  • CEO Simon Owen left land lease operator Ingenia Communities as a business of substantial scale, with $2.4 billion in owned or managed property across 102 communities and sites, a development pipeline of 5,935 land lease home sites and 15,700 income producing sites.  
  • Pinnacle Living Group, a new partnership between Stevens Group and Sue Mann Nursing and Community Care, revealed a 10-year plan to build and operate at least five seniors living communities in both the retirement living and land lease space.

March

  • There were 579 attendees at the two-day LEADERS SUMMIT in Sydney with Tamar Krebs’ simple and eloquent explanation of her Group Homes Australia dementia solution one of the standout presentations. Relive Tamar’s conversation with DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes.
  • Christopher Pyne's conversation with Anglicare Sydney's CEO Simon Miller on ‘How Canberra works’ at the LEADERS SUMMIT can only be described as ‘entertainment’. 
  • Four leaders of the retirement living sector spoke about its future with DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes and Content Editor Ian Horswill at a Westpac Conversations in Melbourne luncheon.
  • On 21 March, Queensland Housing Minister Meaghan Scanlon introduced a Bill to amend the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Act 2003, to establish a Code Of Conduct for the rental land lease sector, capping site rent increases, limiting site rent liability after the home is vacated, changing sales procedures and launching a home owner 'opt in' buyback scheme.
  • Within 24 hours of its takeover bid for the only pure-play over 50s rental village operator Eureka Group Holdings, Aspen Group's stake rose from 14% to 36% to become the company's second biggest shareholder.
  • Simon Miller's Anglicare Sydney trialed ‘Neighbourhoods of Care’ to support multiple Anglicare sites in a number of suburbs around Blacktown with a central home care hub at its Rooty Hill retirement village.

April

  • HammondCare named Andrew Thorburn, the former CEO of National Australia Bank and Bank of New Zealand, as the next CEO of Not For Profit health and aged care provider, replacing Mike Baird AO at the beginning of June.

  • Stockland launched its first Sydney land lease community, Halcyon Gables, in the Hills district, about 50km northwest of Sydney’s CBD. It is part of the masterplanned community The Gables.

  • Aveo, which is owned by Brookfield, announced it would sell its 16 retirement villages in South Australia and Tasmania which "aligns with the retirement village operator’s regular strategic review of opportunities across its portfolio". 
  • The concept of Shared Care, a pooling of individual resident Home Care Package funding in a retirement village to fund, for example. a village nurse, had clearly been on the minds of the Department of Health and Aged Care since December last year, DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes discovered. 
  • BlueCare, an agency of UnitingCare Queensland, was given approval 14 years ago (2010) to build a total of 320 dwelling units on a site in Rockhampton, in central Queensland, but said it is yet to affirm a vision for the land despite a plan being approved back in 2010.
  • Retirement by Moran Managing Director Sally Taylor said the operator can plan the development of the whole 9,234sqm site, adjacent to the beach in Narrabeen, after finalising the purchase of The Wesley Mission's Wesley Taylor village and aged care home. 

May

  • A first look at the Care Hub at RetireAustralia's The Verge Retirement Village at Burleigh on the Gold Coast, which opened the following month, was the most talked about innovation in retirement living.
  • Jim Hazel was inducted into the Property Council of Australia’s Property Hall of Fame at a gala dinner at the Great Hall in Parliament House in Canberra.
  • Cameron Taylor, who resigned as CEO of Eureka Group Holdings in July 2023, is the new CEO of Sundale, the Sunshine Coast-based Not For Profit organisation which has been without a CEO since February.  
  • With construction costs soaring, Third.i said it needs 36 extra apartments from City of Newcastle to make Merewether village, a joint venture between ThirdAge and Merewether Golf Club, commercially viable.
  • New WA land lease entrant Everland Communities, which is part of Yolk Property Group, said its first community Arbour Margaret River would see residents from the LLC sharing community facilities with their adjacent masterplanned community.
  • The Queensland Government passed the Manufactured Homes (Residential Parks) Amendment Bill 2024, providing significant protections across 203 residential land lease communities. Park owners are given 12 months to instigate the wide-ranging changes.

June

July

  • The 2023 PwC/Property Council Retirement Census, released in Aveo’s The Clayfield retirement village, in Brisbane, stated the average stay of a resident was nine years. In 2016, the Census found residents stayed in a retirement village on average for seven years.   
  • It’s a gold rush. Macquarie Real Estate Partners committed $2.85 billion to the land lease sector, announcing it will create a new brand and be the operator, not just an investor.  
  • GreenFort Capital and Gaw Capital Partners say they want an $800 million seniors living land lease portfolio of 1,200 homes.
  • In November 2023, private retirement village and aged care operator TriCare stated its villages were only for people aged over 75 years, with the average age in its nine villages sitting at 84. The operator returned to an over-65 age stipulation but new residents must now pay an Exit Fee of 3.5% of the Ingoing Purchase Price for each year of residence to a maximum of 98% of the Ingoing Purchase Price after 28 years.
  • After the ABC’s 7:30 program aired a damaging story on claims about land lease operator Lifestyle Communities, The Weekly SOURCE published a ‘fact check’ highlighting significant inaccuracies in the report.
  • Daniel Aitchison, CEO of Palm Lake Care; Sean Graham, CEO of Aura Holdings; Jason Eldering, CEO of Southern Cross Care Queensland; Kaizaad Mehta, Head of Healthcare & Industry Specialisation, Westpac and Adam Crombie, Relationship Director, Westpac Healthcare, answer questions from DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes in Brisbane.
  • Levande, the sector’s third largest operator with 58 retirement villages, launched a new contract and payment offer for entry into its villages. There are two options: pay 20% of the purchase price upfront or 30% of the incoming cost when the resident leaves.

August

  • Investment banker, Jefferies, reportedly talked to potential suitors for the leading retirement village owner/operator RetireAustralia to determine if there is any interest. The operator had just announced Hutchinson Builders has begun work on its 30th retirement village. 
  • Aveo CEO Tony Randello said the Brookfield-owned business had agreed to sell its 13 remaining retirement living communities, with 1,033 units, in South Australia to Not For Profits Resthaven and Eldercare, both part of the UnitingCare Australia network.  
  • Diversified property developer Stockland was now actively selling from 14 Stockland Halcyon land lease communities, up from five in FY23. Announcing its FY24 financial result, Stockland said its LLC division achieved 444 LLC home settlements or 37 a month in FY24 with 8,600 home sites in its pipeline.
  • Retirement by Moran, facing at least two years to redevelop the empty residential aged care home in Narrabeen in Sydney’s Northern Beaches it has purchased, generously opted to use the site as accommodation to women in need at no cost.  
  • With the financial muscle of super fund Australian Retirement Trust (created from the merger of Sunsuper and QSuper), Odyssey Lifestyle Care Communities purchased a parcel of land in one of the Gold Coast’s most coveted areas, Cru Collective’s $2 billion, 5.6ha waterfront master plan estate, for its fourth innovative private retirement care venture.    
  • Founded in New Zealand in 1984, Ryman Healthcare Australia opened its Weary Dunlop Retirement Village in Wheelers Hill, Melbourne, in August 2014, a decade earlier. Today, Ryman operates another eight villages in Melbourne which are home to more than 2,000 residents.    

September

  • Ryman Healthcare Australia CEO Cameron Holland opted to leave the NZ publicly listed group as it implemented a comprehensive management restructure and lifted the Deferred Management Fee (DMF) by 10% to 30% and changes its weekly fee structure.  
  • The innovative land lease operator Adrian Puljich launched a new venture, Aliria, with plans for four boutique over-50s lifestyle resorts totaling 1,004 homes.
  • Cushman & Wakefield is unveiled as the seller behind the Western Australian portfolio of 1,600 homes for Keyton, the nation’s largest operator of retirement villages, which is owned by Aware Super, APG Asset Management and Lendlease.  
  • BaptistCare gained approval from the NSW Government State Significant Development legislation for a $190 million co-located development at its Carlingford birthplace, 22km northwest of Sydney's CBD.
  • Another new entrant to over 50s land lease lifestyle communities. The Lowy Family Group-backed Assembly Funds Management, in a joint venture with developer and operator Elka Capital, had already purchased two development sites in northern Victoria for what it said will become a 10-plus land lease community portfolio worth more than $500 million.  
  • Two clubhouses in land lease communities become increasingly common. “We believe great amenities aren’t just a ‘nice-to-have’ – they’re an essential part of thriving and connected communities and we’ve seen how they successfully create places where people want to live,” Ingenia Lifestyle Head of Development QLD Adam Forrester said. 

October

November

  • The new Aged Care Act was passed in Parliament with Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells announcing 83,000 additional Home Care Packages in 2025-26. These actions will cement care into retirement villages. Independent living will gradually disappear as a value proposition, wrote Chris Baynes.  
  • Former Ryman Healthcare Australia CEO Cameron Holland took on a new role as Director – Primary Care & Investments at home healthcare provider Amplar Health, which is owned by the Medibank Group, while Von Slater, Ingenia Communities’ previous Executive General Manager – Development & Sales, was appointed as CEO of land lease operator Serenitas.
  • Anglicare Sydney replaced the Deferred Management Fee (DMF) at the For Purpose Not For Profit's Woolooware Shores retirement village in Taren Point, 18km south of Sydney’s CBD with LDK Senior Living's Village Membership model with plans to now roll out the model at its Castle Hill village.
  • Lifestyle Communities’ woes continued with an ASX update stating it has lost 64 home buyers, who subsequently cancelled between 1 July and 31 October after the ABC broadcast. 
  • The WA Government becomes the latest State Government to expand its Retirement Villages Act, with a new 12-month exit entitlement and a new village comparison website.
  • In great news for NSW retirement village operators, NSW Fair Trading Commissioner and Deputy Secretary Natasha Mann said she would simplify the much complained, complicated Asset Management Plan.
  • RetireAustralia CEO Brett Robinson, a former Wallaby, is elected Chair of World Rugby, the most powerful position in the sport. He talks about combining the roles.
  • The DCM Institute’s 2024 VILLAGE SUMMIT wraps up in Sydney with 630 attendees across five cities.

December

  • The Victorian Government’s Minister for Consumer Affairs Gabrielle Williams introduced the Retirement Villages Amendment Bill into Parliament, becoming the first state to force retirement village operators to sign up to a mandatory Code of Practice and to stipulate that a resident cannot be removed from the village for health reasons if they can be supported at home.
  • South Australia’s Parliament also passed changes to its Retirement Villages Act, introducing new requirements for Codes of Conduct, staff training, resident contracts and more.
  • DCM Group CEO Chris Baynes profiled the retirement village leaders of the Noughties who are returning to the sector with more cash and greater ambitions, led by Peter Inge, whose family-owned Zig Inge Group has formed a $300 million retirement living platform in partnership with investment business Palisade Impact.
  • In an exclusive, The Weekly SOURCE revealed that Steve Muggleton, the Group CEO of Not For Profit Bolton Clarke, one of the largest village and aged care providers in Australia, would retire in 2025 after 14 years in the top job.
  • The early results of a survey of over 4,000 village residents across the country by the Retirement Village Residents Associations which launched last month indicated that the majority understood the terms and conditions of the contract they had signed and were satisfied or very satisfied with life in their village.
  • Summerset, one of New Zealand’s largest retirement and aged care operators, turned the sod on its third Victorian site after announcing it had purchased four new land sites.
  • In a welcome end to the year, the Council of Australian Governments rejects the push by the ABC’s Adele Ferguson and independent MP Rebekha Sharkie for greater Federal oversight of the State-governed retirement village sector.
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