Elisabeth Borden, principal of The Highland Group, was recently asked to write an article for the online magazine of the National Association of Homebuilders, 50+ Housing Magazine on the topic of providing services in for-sale active adult housing communities. The article, published in the most recent issue, first reports on the gap between what active adult communities are offering and what consumers want, then reviews successful examples and provides ideas about potential partnerships between housing providers and service providers.
Here are the first few paragraphs of the article. Below is a link to the full article.
When it comes to supportive services and active adult communities, builders aren’t offering everything consumers would like. The vast majority of 55+ home builders have provided large golf course or amenity-rich communities and market to “active adults.” Yet an NAHB/MetLife report indicates that one-third to one-half of potential 55+ buyers would prefer to have supportive and care services offered in 55+ housing communities. What does this market segment want, and how can home builders reach them?
The Consumer/Builder Gap Analysis
A “Consumer/Builder Gap Analysis” in the NAHB/MetLife report: 55+ Housing: Builders, Buyers, and Beyond (2009) compared the responses of consumers regarding their preferences, and of builders regarding the housing they are building. That analysis demonstrated that between a third and half of all 55+ consumer households would like to have supportive and care services included in 55+ housing communities, while only 2% to 5% of builders provide them.
The study reports that 35% to 48% of age 55+ consumers say they would prefer to have access to on-site health care, housekeeping, van service, home-delivered meals, laundry, and personal care services as part of their new housing community. And it’s not just older buyers who want these services. The NAHB report concludes that “55-to-64-year-olds want services like home maintenance and repair for their next home, as well as services usually connected to older householders, such as housekeeping, on-site healthcare and transportation.”
The Active Market Segment is Well-Served
Still, there is certainly a large market segment that wants a purely active adult lifestyle and does not want services. Sales staff from widely different locations across the country believe that many active adult consumer prospects would flee from a community that offered care and supportive services, or implied a future need for such services.
This “active” market segment is well-served by the home building industry, as is obvious from an Internet search for age 55+ new home communities. Where to Retire magazine, which catalogs active adult retirement communities, devoted its July/August 2011 issue to “The Short List: The 50 Best Master-Planned Communities in the United States.” Of the 50 communities selected, none mentioned supportive or care services. Nor does its chart listing key amenities include access to supportive services as desirable.
Success Stories Combining For-Sale Housing and Services
Despite the preponderance of for-sale home communities focusing entirely on active adults, there are a number of good models for communities that have successfully combined high-quality new homes with access to a full range of supportive and care services. Although the number of units in such communities is generally much smaller, their success has been at least equal to that achieved by their larger active adult, golf-course counterparts. Some have received national recognition by NAHB and others for the quality of their offerings.
Let’s look at some of these communities to offer a glimpse of how new, for-sale homes are being effectively combined with services to provide just the right product for those consumers who are seeking the best of both worlds.
Read more……….
http://newsmanager.commpartners.com/nahb50mag/issues/2011-11-18/email.html
The Highland Group’s reports gave us a detailed, complete and
