But the Western Cape has some way to go towards satisfying the full requirement for retirement villages and complexes, according to Billy Rauch, CEO of the Cape Peninsula Organisation for the Aged (CPOA).
The country's shortage of retirement accommodation came into the spotlight after the Retirement Communities World Conference held in Johannesburg in 2007. In a Financial Mail article published on 28 September 2007, Ian Raubenheimer, the CEO of property loan stock company Atlas, was reported to have said that the over-50 group, which then made up less than one third of South Africa's population, would grow to 40% by 2021.
Already many popular retirement complexes in South Africa have long waiting lists – those for the more sought-after developments often extend to 15 or 20 years – and informed people are beginning to realise that they need to take action at an earlier age to secure the retirement accommodation and lifestyle that they desire, rather than wait until the need is urgent.
Rauch says although many of those aged 55 to 60 feel they are not yet ready to join a retirement community, an emerging trend that may further impact on the demand is that South Africans are starting to move into retirement communities at a younger age while enjoying an active lifestyle.
Reporting on a similar trend in the US, an article on the Smart Senior website state: "Today's retirees are completely different from the 'older folks' of a generation ago. The age of people living in adult retirement communities is coming down. The younger residents often stay in the workforce as consultants or are using retirement as an opportunity to jump into a new career."
Readers' Comments
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I have lived in Hermanus for almost twenty-two years, and since then, the number of gated communities for the retired has grown exponentially. Two trends have become evident over the past decade. The price of these units is outstripping free-standing houses, so they make a good investment. Quite a few are bought before occupying, rented out in the meantime, and only later does the owner take possession.
The great majority of sales here are made to people who live locally and "know the ropes", because there is a shortage and word travel fasts on the grapevine. As you say, many have a waiting-list and the terms of disposal vary from complete freedom to sharing the capital gain with the management company. - Anonoymous
How do I get in touch with this market as I have a retirement unit that is standing empty and I want to rent it out. It's in the Bella Vista retirement complex in Bellville, Cape Town. I have placed many ads but have had little response since the tough financial times have hit. - Craig du Toit
We have been looking at retirement homes for approximately five years now but find that our options as far as the cost factor are limited.
Exorbitant levies, life rights and frail care costs have in most cases but the "damper" on any of our proposed moves to this type of living. Developers also seem to think that older people do not need much space to live as one North Coast Development we were interested in confirmed a price tag of about R15 000 per square meter yet one could hear all the activities your immediate neighbours did in their units 24 hours a day because of close proximity.
Another unit being offered with life rights was for sale but the owners who were emigrating added the life right sales commission on to the price tag also making the unit unaffordable. By all means there should be reasonable profit margins but it seems developers were going overboard during the boom times, lets hope we can find realistically priced units now that we are in recession! - Ray Pickering
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