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As the “baby boomer” generation continues to enter their senior post-retirement years, the provision of affordable retirement housing has become increasingly important for the community, practitioners and policymakers. However, relatively little attention has to date been placed on identifying an effective market mechanism for the industry of the independent-living retirement villages to meet this increased and unprecedented demand. This study aims to develop an innovative and affordable retirement village development model which meets the needs of all stakeholders including seniors, retirement village residents, the retirement village industry and government.

The attributes of this study are as follows: structure of individual living units, retirement village characteristics, retirement village facilities and services and support mechanisms. The analysis was undertaken based on data relating to independent-living retirement villages in five Australian states. A hedonic pricing model was used where the price distributions relating to these four aspects were estimated.

The results confirmed the structures of the independent living units and the retirement village characteristics were closely related to pricing, followed by services and supports with a lesser relationship, although the facilities were not significantly related to pricing.

This research is not able to address the entire retirement village market in Australia because the available market data are limited.

This research uses an innovative supply-side approach to assess retirement village attributes and values, which provides stakeholders with up-to-date market information to assist in guiding the performance of the retirement village industry.

The market evaluations imply that seniors are reluctant to pay for village attributes that are not regarded as highly sought-after. A cost-effective strategy of new retirement village developments and upgrades can be further induced, which in turn can enhance the market efficiency and affordability of the retirement villages.

This pricing model for retirement village units extends previous studies into retirement villages and presents stakeholders with an innovative and reliable market-oriented model.

Services for people with intellectual disabilities in Greece can be described as versatile and based on both old and new structures, old, over‐crowded institutions co‐existing with new, alternative structures for independent living. Distinguishing features of the support system are limited financial resources, a strong orientation to medical categories in psychiatry and lack of specific services. There are still many people with intellectual disabilities being treated in mental health services. The gap in services is filled by informal networks, which face a crisis because of the increasing participation of women in the labour market. One of the major deficiencies of the present system is the lack of any sound knowledge of how many people with intellectual disabilities there are, who they are, how they cope with their disabilities and what services they use. This article gives an overview of the current situation.

Ageing populations provoke the question of how much bespoke housing should be provided for the elderly. Older people are generally reluctant to move but as they age health circumstances may encourage moves into specialised accommodation. This paper aims to report on an exercise in estimating the future demand for specialised independent living housing and the extent to which that demand will be for owner occupied accommodation or renting, using data for England.

The most important predictor of demand for specialised housing is the extent of the requirement for at least some degree of long‐term care due to loss of mobility. Therefore, the forecast is formulated around a behaviour‐based model centred on demographic, personal physical mobility and housing tenure factors.

The forecasts indicate a substantial increase in demand, growing at a faster rate than the population as a whole. If supply does not rise to meet these demands, serious problems arise in the quality of life of, and cost of caring for, older people with implications for health care and social services. Moreover, some of the greatest growth is going to be amongst those aged 75 to 84 and amongst the very old 85+ group.

The forecast is based on ELSA estimates. Data on activity and ageing are available from the English Longitudinal Survey of Ageing's (ELSA) Wave 4 2008 data set.

The implication is that in the future far more provision of housing for the elderly will have to take place in the private sector. However, the market provision of specialised retirement housing is likely to be very inadequate for predicted needs. A significant cause of this is a chronic planning‐induced land shortage which keeps the price of retirement accommodation high.

The continuing shortage of specialised housing will mean that hundreds of thousands of the elderly will continue to live in their existing accommodation when bespoke property would better suit their needs. This will further exacerbate general housing shortages, especially as the empty nester elderly do often own substantial family homes. It will also put pressures on care home sector because, in the absence of an appropriate intermediate stage, more will be pushed into care.

It could be argued that the assumptions made in this forecasting exercise contain a number of essentially arbitrary statements. But that is to miss the point of this exercise, which is to suggest that a large potential demand exists on plausible estimates of who might benefit from living in specialised retirement housing.

Ageing populations, although exhibiting marked differences across countries and cultures, are a global phenomenon. Old‐age dependency ratios in most developed countries are projected to double by the year 2050. In Australia there will be a strain on economic growth as a large part of the population moves from pre‐retirement to post‐retirement age over the next 25 years. A disproportionate amount of this strain will be concentrated in aged‐care housing or retirement accommodation. Current evidence suggests that existing housing stock for older people is inadequate. As the Australian population ages, the maintenance and long‐term performance of retirement housing is a key concern of government and housing providers. This study looked at four aged‐care or retirement providers across Australia and examined the performance of the current housing stock managed by these providers. The interviews revealed that housing design decisions in retirement stock, although critically important to the changing needs of occupants and the adequate supply of suitable housing, are often ill‐considered. The findings critically question the idea of simply building ‘more of the same’ to relieve demand. This study has major implications for the future of Australian retirement housing, especially as the population ages dramatically.

This paper aims to identify the critical issues to be considered by developers and practitioners when embarking on their first green residential retirement project in Australia. With an increasingly ageing population and widespread acceptance of the need for sustainable development in Australia, the demand for green retirement villages is increasing.

In view of the lack of adequate historical data for quantitative analysis, a case study approach is used to examine the successful delivery of green retirement villages. Face-to-face interviews and document analyses were conducted for data collection.

The findings of the study indicate that one of the major obstacles to the provision of affordable green retirement villages is the higher initial costs involved. However, positive aspects were identified, the most significant of which relate to the innovative design of site and floor plans; adoption of thermally efficient building materials; orientation of windows; installation of water harvesting and recycling systems, water conservation fittings and appliances; and waste management during the construction stage. With the adoption of these measures, it is believed that sustainable retirement development can be achieved without significant additional capital costs.

The research findings serve as a guide for developers in decision-making throughout the project life-cycle when introducing green features into the provision of affordable retirement accommodation.

This paper provides insights into the means by which affordable green residential retirement projects for aged people can be successfully completed.

As a viable housing option for older people, retirement villages need to provide a sustainable living environment that satisfies their residents’ needs in terms of affordability, lifestyle and environmental friendliness. This is, however, a significant challenge for not-for-profit developers because of the high upfront costs involved in using sustainable practices. The purpose of this paper is to identify the sustainable features and practices adopted in not-for-profit retirement villages.

Because of the lack of quantitative historical data, a case study approach was adopted to identify the sustainable features and practices used in a not-for-profit retirement village in Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. Data were collected based on interviews, direct observation and documentation, and collected data were analysed by using content analysis.

The research findings indicate that similar to private developers, not-for-profit developers also have the capability to make their village environment sustainable. In this case, the sustainable practices cover various aspects including the selection of village location, site planning, provision of facilities and services, social life and living costs. Although the associated costs of adopting sustainable features is a concern for both developers and residents, some of the identified sustainable practices in this case do not result in significant cost increase but can improve the residents’ quality of life substantially.

The research findings provide a number of practical implications on how to deliver sustainable retirement villages in a not-for-profit village setting.

This paper provides a first look at sustainable features and practices adopted in both the development and operation stages of a not-for-profit retirement village.

Having an ageing population is an issue facing many countries, particularly western nations. With governments and service providers focusing on healthy ageing and ageing in place, notions of choice and active participation for older people in selecting services appropriate to remaining in the community are also emphasised. Central to this is the issue of information navigation: knowing what services are available and how to get that information, for older people and those who support them. Based on a series of qualitative studies of service provision and using perspectives from older people, their families and those who provide services for them, this paper argues that greater attention needs to be paid to the process of information navigation as opposed to providing ever more information content.

Expectations of an aging population increases the need for accurate models and reliable forecasts of housing demand in the later stages of life. This paper aims to examine whether the only published forecasting model predicts the actual movement of older Americans into retirement housing.

A logistic regression model is used to test which older movers chose retirement housing using data from the 2002 and 2004 Health and Retirement Survey.

Age is found to have a positive relationship with the choice to move into retirement housing, but the other socioeconomic variables are not significant and the model is not robust.

More investigation is necessary to identify the variables that will provide a reliable estimate of those choosing retirement housing. Segmented by housing type may be necessary rather than estimating total retirement housing demand.

The paper tests whether a model previously used to forecast senior housing demand actually predicts housing choice. It demonstrates that additional research is needed to develop models that can more accurately estimate demand in this growing segment of the housing market in aging countries.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss residents' views of social and physical environments in a co‐housing and in a senior housing setting in Finland. Also, the study aims to point out important connections between well‐being and built environment.

The data include interviews and survey responses gathered in the cases. The results and analysis are presented at different case study levels, with the discussion and conclusions following this.

The findings show that the physical environment and common areas have an important role to activate residents. When well‐designed common areas exist, a higher level of engagement can be achieved by getting residents involved in the planning and running of activities.

This paper discusses residents' experiences in two Finnish housing settings and it focuses on the housing market in Finland.

The findings encourage investors and housing operators to design and invest common areas which could activate residents and create social contacts. Also, investors have to pay attention to the way these developments are managed.

This study is the first to investigate the Finnish co‐housing setting and compare social and physical environments in a co‐housing and a senior house.

This research project investigated practical aspects of teaching older, retired people to use the Internet, with particular emphasis on email. The study was carried out in Melbourne, Australia. This paper deals with the justification for the research, its aims, objectives and mid‐term results. A small number of residents in retirement accommodation, aged 84‐97, have been tutored on a one‐to‐one basis to use email and other computer/Internet applications. Though several endemic hurdles have been experienced, the research shows the benefits of email and ways to overcome some of the problems.