If Singapore’s first private luxury senior housing takes off, will more developers enter this space?

SINGAPORE – When

Singapore’s first private assisted living home, Perennial Living,

opens in the first quarter of 2026, its take-up rate will be closely watched by other developers looking to get into this space, as well as by seniors hoping for a more wallet-friendly version.

The 200-apartment project in Parry Avenue comes with private lift access, sky terraces, a clubhouse with dining and lifestyle amenities, personal concierge services, and a rehabilitation, medical and wellness centre.

Costing between $8,900 and $17,000 a month, depending on room type and required care, Perennial Living is aimed at well-heeled seniors over the age of 65. 

If the luxury project is well subscribed, more developers may pivot towards the fast-growing elderly demographic in Singapore.

But given the high costs of acquiring land, as well as high construction and labour costs, developers will likely end up building high-end senior living facilities to cover costs and profit margins. All these costs are then passed on to seniors.

This means that only a small and well-off segment of Singaporeans, permanent residents and foreigners will be able to afford premium eldercare services.

But can there be private assisted living facilities with all the bells and whistles – from apartments equipped with smart technology to meals crafted by in-house dieticians to dementia-focused traditional Chinese medicine therapies – at rates lower than what Perennial Living is charging?

For Mr Jonathan Denis-Jacob, a director at real estate consultancy Cistri, one possibility is for the Government to provide “subsidised land to developers with explicit land-use designation, objectives and parameters to fulfil affordability objectives”.

This would lower development costs and deliver affordable private senior living housing, he said.

In response to The Straits Times’ queries, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said commercially developed assisted living facilities “can realistically only cater to a certain segment of the senior population”.

“As these are commercially run facilities by the private sector, it will not be appropriate for the Government to subsidise them to lower the costs,” they told ST on Sept 12.

Mr Pua Seck Guan, Perennial Holdings’ executive chairman and chief executive, said that regulatory and zoning constraints, coupled with limited land supply, are current deterrents.

“There is no zoning for assisted living,” he pointed out. “Assisted living units are zoned under residential, but medical services are zoned under medical, and kitchens or restaurants are zoned under commercial.”

Mr Denis-Jacob said that should there be a specific land-use designation for senior living, “development projects authorised on these sites will only be built for that purpose, and the land acquisition price paid by the developer will reflect the value of this asset type”.

The land tenure for such projects tends to be shorter at 60 years, compared with the typical 99-year lease for residential development sites, which should reduce market prices for such land, he added.

“But as long as the primary evaluation criterion for GLS (Government Land Sales) tenders is the highest price sought, we expect market prices to be paid for land, given the competitive nature of such tenders,” he said.  

When asked if more sites would be released for private senior housing, MOH and URA said “the agencies will closely monitor the pilot Parry Avenue project and assess the need to release more land for commercially developed assisted living premises, given limited land”. 

Perennial had to stump up $260 million to buy land and develop its project, and plans to hire more than 180 employees. It hopes to achieve at least an occupancy rate of 70 per cent to 80 per cent in the project’s first year.

But even with its

deep resources in hospitality, healthcare and eldercare,

the group faces challenges recruiting qualified staff here, given the labour crunch. This will be another hurdle for other developers to overcome if they wish to follow in Perennial’s footsteps.

It is necessary to employ people who can provide services expected of a five-star assisted living development, and also converse with seniors in various languages and dialects, Mr Pua said.

In China, he pointed out that the group was able to lower its capital outlay when it first entered the Shanghai market a decade ago, because the local government leased the buildings to it for up to 20 years.

That helped to reduce construction costs, which meant the savings could be passed on to residents, he said.

“Eventually, the authorities even renovated the buildings to our specifications, and then leased these to us, lowering costs further,” Mr Pua said.

Today, Perennial Holdings has five large-scale developments integrating medical care, eldercare and hospitality components that are connected to high-speed railway stations in Tianjin, Kunming, Chengdu, Xi’an and Chongqing.

But unlike their peers in large countries like China, the majority of Singaporeans will have to age in place within their communities, or turn to Community Care Apartments (CCAs), which integrate senior-friendly housing with care services. These start at $40,000 for a 15-year lease to $65,000 for a 35-year lease for eligible seniors aged 65 years and above.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said Singapore will be rolling out Age Well Neighbourhoods, a scheme to provide older Singaporeans and residents with the support to age at home and within their community.

“It will involve significant government investments in senior-friendly physical living environments, active ageing centres, community health posts and home personal care,” MOH and URA said.

Retirement kampungs like Kampung Admiralty are another alternative, combining public housing for seniors with healthcare, wellness and eldercare facilities, alongside childcare centres to encourage interaction with pre-schoolers.

With Singapore reaching super-aged status in 2026, all eldercare models will be needed.

Around one in four Singaporeans is expected to be 65 years and older by 2030, and this will rise to almost one in two by 2050.

While there is a need for private senior housing at lower price points, given the constraints – especially with government subsidies off the table – and uncertainty over revenue projections in this untested market, it could be a tough act for some private developers to follow.