Baby boomers who want to retire in comfort will have more options in Australia as a Singapore-listed company has invested a further A$20 million (S$21.5 million) in its joint-venture resort-style senior housing.
Thakral Corporation's GemLife brand - a partnership with Living Gems Lifestyle Resorts, which is controlled by Australia's Puljich family - will develop two properties, one in the state of Victoria and the other in New South Wales.
These will add to the joint venture's retirement-housing portfolio of two resorts in Queensland.
Construction will begin by the end of this year, with the two new projects eventually yielding a total of 369 homes.
This will bring the number of GemLife units - which are in gated communities with shared facilities such as saunas, bowling alleys and lawn bowling greens - to more than 1,000.
Sales have already started for the two new developments, Thakral said, calling the response "very encouraging" so far.
GemLife director Greggory Piercy said in a statement: "The demand for retirement housing in Australia continues to grow in line with the country's ageing population."
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369
Number of homes that the two new projects will eventually yield. Construction will begin by the end of this year.
He added that the joint venture "is well positioned to take advantage of this growth over the coming years".
Thakral initially invested A$20.5 million in September last year, when its retirement-home joint venture picked up the two Queensland properties.
Other Singapore companies were active in overseas markets last week - one with plans to develop a mixed residential and retail development in Malaysia, and another set to acquire an office building in New Zealand.
But Knight Frank Singapore's head of investment and capital markets Ian Loh said that he expects fewer overseas acquisitions, compared with the past two to three years.
"These are very small deals," he said, noting that a "good building" could go for a few hundred million dollars in the Australian office market, rather than billion-dollar blockbusters in Singapore.
"There seems to be more capital, looking at the market locally, given that the market sentiment looks positive in both the commercial and residential sectors at this moment."
