Estate Living Magazine Issue 30 Smart Environments June 2018 | Page 58

INVESTING IN UK RETIREMENT PROPERTY
If you have savings and you’re thinking of investing in property, you may want to
look off-shore. And, surprisingly, the UK offers some very affordable investment
opportunities with good returns.
This option will be particularly attractive to investors who have
some family or historical attachment to the UK, as well as to
those who would like pound-based assets in their portfolio.
But you have worked hard for your money, so you need to be
extremely attentive when assessing any sort of investment. So
consider the following before making a decision.
Choose somewhere in an area with a high demand
Firstly, you will need to evaluate the demand for the property
type you are purchasing in that area. There would be little point
in buying a student property in the middle of the countryside
away from all universities, or in a town where the local university
is able to cater for most students. Similarly, with retirement
property, older people tend to move away from cities and settle
in quieter villages in the countryside or by the sea, so it makes
sense to look for retirement complexes that are situated in these
areas. Our UK retirement home investments are often situated
in seaside towns in the southwest of England, in counties such
as Devon and Cornwall. In an area where an existing retirement
village is located, one in four people are over the age of 65.
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Choose an area where there is an undersupply
Following on from point number one, you’ve now chosen an
investment in an area with high demand. The key is to uncover
areas with a limited supply. Ideally, you would want to identify
the demand in an area before other people have discovered it.
Sometimes it is not always feasible to seek out undiscovered
areas in the UK.
What is to stop other developers from recognising the appeal and
lucrative returns, and building luxury retirement homes in areas
that will eventually rival your own investment? You will need to
consider the barriers to entry. In areas such as Devon, there are
lots of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty,
which must be conserved. Local government initiatives that
control the supply of property can include restrictive planning
permission for new build properties. Aside from local measures,
the national government prohibits building on vast swathes of
land under the Green Belt (Protection) Bill 2017-19. This means
that there is only a limited amount of space to build upon, thereby
limiting competition from other developers.