National Research into what Downsizers want
Guest article: Ellivo
With the numbers of potential Downsizers in Qld set to increase by around 350,000 over the next 20 years, Ellivo Architects recently undertook a nationwide study to better understand the preferences of this growing market.
Distributed nationally via the Your Life Choices online community portal, the survey sought to provide design and development insights for this rapidly growing senior housing cohort.
The research identified a range of issues important to downsizers, including understanding their current living arrangements, their preferred downsizer location, proximity to services & amenities, preferred dwelling type and size, as well as design-related criteria such as preferred community or development size, titling structure and specific internal design features of dwellings.
This has helped to bust a few myths and assist developers to fine-tune their projects to make them more appealing to this segment of the market.
The survey revealed that being close to the CBD was the least desirable location. Downsizers have a strong preference to live near to convenience retail, medical services, public transport and open space, and this was also more significant than relocating to prime coastal locations.
Interestingly, areas with these high levels of ‘Social Amenity’ were also significantly more desirable than staying close to their current neighbourhood.
However, while we anticipated a growing appetite for well-designed apartments, this was not supported by the survey, with around 10% preferring this type of living, and 5% opting for townhouses.
Instead, this survey suggests that – given the choice – most still want a single-level detached home, just a smaller one with less maintenance.
In summary, our challenge as architects & developers will be to design downsize solutions that provides the privacy and amenity that seniors are looking for in a smaller detached home, but to do this in a boutique multi-residential environment.
For further information on the research please contact: Scott Whiteoak, Ellivo Architects: scottw@ellivo.com
Or, contact us here at PEP Solutions, we can assist you on this topic or answer any questions you may have!
[dt_default_button link=”http://www.pepsolutions.com.au/contact/” button_alignment=”default” animation=”fadeIn” size=”small” default_btn_bg_color=”” bg_hover_color=”” text_color=”” text_hover_color=”” icon=”fa fa-chevron-circle-right” icon_align=”left”]Contact us today[/dt_default_button]
