Our strategy as retirement developers

Our retirement developer strategy

McCarthy & Stone is the UK's leading developer and manager of retirement communities. As award-winning pioneers in retirement properties, our long history and depth of experience means our name is synonymous with retirement living at its best.

Today much of our success is underpinned by a single strategy, ensuring we continue to build retirement homes that give people the lifestyle and support they need, want and deserve.

Our strategy: to become the UK’s leading developer, manager and owner of retirement developments

Our purpose: to champion the role, wellbeing and happiness of older people in society

Our vision: to create communities for our customers that nurture a sense of belonging, independence and peace of mind

Our mission: to be the natural choice for later living - by developing beautiful, sustainable and more affordable places to live, with flexible services and a choice of ownership options, designed around our customers and their families.

Three key principles support our strategy

Our strategy as a retirement community developer is upheld by three key principles:

Multi-tenure is a big opportunity to introduce more rental and shared ownership retirement properties, offering our homeowners more financial flexibility.

According to our research, 50% of customers are interested in a retirement rental proposition. As of April 2021, we secured our rental investment fund to retain a part share in this market. We will also explore opportunities to bring institutional investment, Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and various other vehicles into the industry.

We want to ensure our retirement properties remain affordable and maintain mass-market appeal.

Our business seeks to do this by:

Reducing build costs
Increasing efficiencies
Introducing new, contemporary and optimised apartment designs

Ultimately, standardised designs that we’ll fabricate differently will reduce the average selling price, increasing the size of our addressable market.

Understanding the market for retirement housing

We have unparalleled knowledge of our market and customer base, a highly skilled and experienced workforce and a national presence. And we’re leading a sector with huge potential.

A rapidly increasing aging population and an undersupply of high-quality, age-appropriate housing for older people highlight a market need for retirement developers like us.

An aging population

The last UK Census (Census 2021 for England and Wales) highlights that the proportion of people aged 65 and over has risen from 9.2 million in 2011 to 11 million in 2021. This equates to 16.4% of the population aged 65 and over in 2011, compared with 18.6% in 2021.

And these numbers are predicted to grow, particularly for the ages of 85 and over. The Office for National Statistics forecasts that the proportion of people aged 85 years and over will double by mid-2041 to 3.2 million - tripling by 2066 to 5.1 million.

An undersupply of suitable housing

According to a report published by JLL, 2029 will see a significant shortfall in senior housing. This is widely attributed to the growing older population, with retirement developers unable to build retirement homes quickly enough to meet the increasing demand. In turn, the gap between the supply and demand of retirement homes is set to widen.

A report by Knight Frank reiterates this observation, explaining that although there is a predicted rise in retirement stock from 2024 to 2027, this will fall short of the growing demand from aging populations.