RETIREMENT homes are being snapped up while they are still figments of a builder’s imagination. Even those well into pensionhood are embracing the practice of buying “off-plan” just as city slickers and property investors go cold on the idea.
The reason is that, although the general property market has slowed down, the pent-up demand for retirement homes cannot be satisfied by the few thousand which come on to the market each year. In order to guarantee getting the flat or cottage of their choice, retirement buyers are committing themselves to a purchase for up to a year before their property is ready. Peter Askew, the chief executive of Pegasus retirement builders, said: “There are only about 4,000 new, purpose- built retirement apartments built each year, which is surprising considering the demographics of the 65-plus market. Buying off-plan is one way to be sure of getting the property you want, because at present there are not enough available.” It’s not quite a Zimmer-frame free-for-all in the sales offices, but rather a genteel version of pushy behaviour in the form of frequent telephone calls and impromptu site visits. On the morning that the sales office opened at a Beechcroft retirement site in Iwerne Minster in Dorset, one man turned up at dawn with a chair and sat outside for hours guarding his first place in the queue to ensure that he got his plot.
McCarthy & Stone, Britain’s biggest builders of retirement homes, were forced to change their off-plan sales system after queues formed in the rain and several buyers tried to buy the same properties.
James Poxon, the marketing director, says: “Now each flat is represented by a coloured flag which is removed from a board. Negotiations are only held with the person who has the flag. We cover our sites with hoardings and get 500 to 600 people interested in each one. We make priority appointments on a first-come basis and then do a formal presentation explaining off-plan selling. At one assisted living scheme at Llandudno we had 1,000 people in two sessions and sold 50 of our 63 units on the first day.”
Buying off-plan proceeds in a gentler way in the retirement sector than in the more cutthroat world of the general property market. Care is taken to ensure that buyers understand the plans. McCarthy & Stone allows prospective buyers to pull out if they change their minds after viewing the show flat.
Irene and Bill Dartnell decided to move after Bill, 82, a retired fireman, suffered a stroke, and their isolated bungalow in Ceredigion in West Wales became unsuitable. They looked at Heol Gouesnou, Brecon — two years before the properties were ready — after a friend tipped them off that McCarthy & Stone had applied for planning permission.
Irene said: “The site was a derelict patch of land and we couldn’t visualise what it would be like. I was very hesitant but asked for plans of the flats and wrote to register our interest. We were invited for interviews last June. We were fourth or fifth in the queue and hoped to buy the flat at the top of the tower, but the man in front of us bought it. I was disappointed, but then we found the flat was out of our price range. Instead we bought another two-bedroom flat off-plan for £173,000.
“When we moved in September it was the first time we had seen the flat. I was very apprehensive and relieved to see how attractive it is. It was worth buying off-plan to get the pick of the scheme. I pored over the plan in detail and measured out the size of the rooms to see how much furniture we could take. The best flats went very quickly.”
Barbara and Michael Down paid a nonreturnable deposit 11 months before they were able to move into their two-bedroom house at English Courtyard’s site in Bearsted, Kent, after studying plans, visiting other sites and weighing up the risk of losing their money.
Michael, a retired accountant, said: “Buying off-plan does involve a risk. You have to be confident about the reputation of the company. We did a bit of research and found English Courtyard builds to fair standards. We liked the way the sites are run, with a manager rather than a carer, because we are not in our dotage yet. During the waiting time we were invited to meet the management and made to feel welcome.”
Thanks to their early decision, the Downs were able to arrange for minor alterations to their bathroom and kitchen free of charge, sacrificing a breakfast bar for extra cupboards and a microwave for a double oven.
Kevin Holland, the marketing director at English Courtyard, said: “We have an overall waiting list of 3,000 people. At Bearsted and Beaconsfield (Buckinghamshire) people asked about the sites before we had applied for planning. Our schemes are a mix of properties — some apartments and some cottages — which creates greater demand because there is more chance of missing out on what you want. Customers who reserve and buy off-plan get a reduction of about £10,000 to
£15,000. At Beaconsfield, where prices were from £500,000 to £650,000, and Bearsted, where they were from £395,000 to £535,000, we achieved 50 per cent off-plan sales.”
Building work begins soon at Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire. Off-plan sales are scheduled for October unless the customer demand persuades English Courtyard to launch the scheme earlier.
Rosa Dipré, 68, a retired legal secretary, acted quickly to secure one of only five three-bedroom houses in the first phase of Anchor Trust’s Denham Garden Village in Buckinghamshire. She put down a £1,000 deposit last September, exchanged contracts on the £450,000 house in December and, subject to her selling her own house in Highgate, North London, moves in this summer.
“I want to live at Denham so that when I get older and need help it will be there, and I wanted that particular house because it has the most land. When you are on your own, it is even more important to think about things like security and to plan ahead for your future years. I liked the idea of still having my own private garden. I am really looking forward to moving. Denham Garden Village covers the basics that I need, such as security and care, but it also offers more, like a good social life and a real community feel,” she says.
Keith Lovelock, the chief executive of McCarthy & Stone, says that local authorities should wake up to what he described as a crisis in the lack of public provision of homes for the elderly.
Denham Garden Village, www.denhamgardenvillage.co.uk, 01895 836333; Englishcourtyard, www.englishcourtyard.co.uk, 0800 220858; Pegasus Homes, www.pegasus-homes.co.uk, 0800 5838844; McCarthy & Stone, www.mccarthyandstone.co.uk, 0800 919132
