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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.

Factors such as retirement and declining health may trigger older Americans to move into retirement housing. Most mature consumers make this decision in consultation with their family. Understanding the timing and decision‐making process is necessary to properly position and promote retirement housing. A national survey of retirement housing residents found that most moves were prompted by financial considerations, retirement, and health problems. Although most seniors made the final decision to move themselves, children and physicians were influencers. Thus, retirement housing must be promoted to family members and health care workers as well as potential residents.

We conducted consumer research with more than 2,000 adults and more than 100 representatives from retirement housing providers from across the UK to identify the “perception gap” and gathered high-profile representatives from across the retirement housing sector to discuss the data.

Our research shows that the public are unsure about the benefits and services provided by retirement housing schemes – often confusing them with care homes and nursing homes to the detriment of the sector.

We identify an untapped referrer market for retirement living, that men should be targeted with entry-level information and people should be targeted before retirement age when perceptions are less “fixed”.

We show the services that matter most to ABC1 demographic and the sources they use to find information.

We outline how the sector can make retirement housing a model of “want” instead of a model of “need”.

This paper examines the decision‐making process of retirement housing purchasers and seeks to determine its effectiveness by comparing and contrasting some of the data obtained from the research.

A sample of about 200 respondents was selected from all purchasers of retirement housing in the West Midlands region of England. Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with 20 respondents.

The findings demonstrate that the majority of retirement housing purchasers undertake limited decision‐making: they consider only the scheme in which a property is eventually bought, and they are very satisfied with their purchase.

Satisfaction with the outcome of the decision‐making process is surely more important than the nature of the process itself, however, inappropriate that process seems to be in terms of the theory of buyer behaviour. It is questionable whether there is a need for third parties to intervene in the process if the valuable resources of public and voluntary/charitable sector agencies can be better used elsewhere.

Many international retirement migrants are amenity movers undertaking the first move in the late life course model of migration. The purpose of this paper is to examine second moves within the retirement destination community to test whether the model of late life course migration accurately portrays the motivations and housing choices local movers make after retiring to another country.

The paper combines secondary data and survey results to examine the composition of the retiree migrant population in the Alicante province of Spain. The socioeconomic characteristics and housing choices of those who have made a second move since retiring to Spain are compared with those who have not moved through a series of t‐tests and chi‐square tests.

The paper finds that those who have made a second move within Spain are somewhat typical of second movers in the late life course. They are likely to cite mobility or health problems as a reason for moving and appear to recognize the need for a home that provides living area on one floor. Yet, they are choosing to move within an area that does not provide them with access to informal family care givers.

The data are restricted to retirees of two nationalities in one province of Spain. Further research is suggested in other locations and with retirees of other nationalities for comparison.

Because many international retirees do not plan to return to their countries of origin, they will create demand for formal in‐home care services and supportive retiree housing in the near future in their retirement destination countries.

This paper provides understanding of a growing consumer housing segment in retirement destinations.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to show that the role of children in persuading their parents to move is known to be significant, but there has been extensive debate about the roles of other people involved in the process. It is necessary to investigate who plays these roles, for they will be legitimate targets for informative promotion or help from not‐for‐profit agencies – the public sector and voluntary/charitable organisations – wanting to improve the older person's decision making when choosing from a range of housing options.

The paper shows that questionnaires were delivered to every property in nine retirement housing schemes, chosen at random, in the West Midlands region of the UK. Approximately 200 were completed. Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with 20 of the respondents.

The findings in this paper demonstrate that almost all initiators were from within the family. The spouse and adult children were the most important influencers, but children had the greatest impact because almost all respondents had children, whereas only a quarter were married. Respondents alone made the decision to purchase in three‐quarters of instances.

The paper shows that not‐for‐profit agencies, when providing information and offering advice about retirement housing, need to target the potential purchaser, the spouse, adult children and other relatives. Other influencers can almost be ignored. Such action will improve the decision‐making process.

In this paper culture is considered by marketers to have a profound influence on consumer behaviour, yet explanations of tenure preference ignore or dismiss culture as a factor underlying such preferences. This paper therefore aims to examine the attitudes of retirement housing purchasers to tenure, the effect of culture on these attitudes, and contrast some of the results of the research.

In the paper data were collected by questionnaire. A sample of about 200 respondents was selected from all purchasers of retirement housing in the West Midlands region of the UK.

The findings in this paper demonstrate that culture is an important factor affecting retirement housing purchasers' attitudes to housing tenure and that home ownership is part of their way of life.

It is argued in this paper that culture cannot be dismissed or ignored when debating the tenure preferences of older people and the factors affecting these preferences; and that it is probably the prime factor underlying a “natural preference” for home ownership.

Various studies have shown that nearly three‐quarters of older people living within retirement housing are female single persons, leading some researchers to argue that sheltered housing is essentially a gender or health‐related issue, which can be explained demographically. Possible differences in the buyer behaviour of men and women or single people and married couples are ignored. If differences exist, the approaches adopted by not‐for‐profit agencies to improve the decision‐making process may need to differentiate between the sexes and marital states. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to comment on the differences in the process and contrast some of the results of the research.

A sample of about 200 respondents was selected from all purchasers of retirement housing in the West Midlands region of England. Semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with 20 respondents.

The findings demonstrate that differences exist of less than one‐fifth of the decision‐making factors explored in the study.

Differences can limit the number of suitable options for the purchaser. Therefore, not‐ for‐profit agencies, when providing information and offering advice about housing alternatives, need to appreciate differences between the sexes and marital states in terms of the provision of stairs, the garden, loneliness and problems or difficulties associated with bereavement; the number of builders contacted and schemes known; and the awareness and consideration stages of the decision‐making process relating to a number of housing alternatives.

The purpose this paper is to explore walking with purpose in extra care, retirement and domestic housing settings to better understand and support people living with dementia in these settings, develop recommendations and inform practice.

A mixed-methods study was used: scoping literature review; online survey of extra care and retirement housing managers in the UK; case studies involving interviews with staff and family carers (n = 14) of ten individuals who engaged in walking with purpose in the different housing settings.

Although residents who walk with purpose constitute a minority (0–2 residents), managing walking with purpose can be challenging and time consuming. Distraction or redirection was the most common response. Other strategies included identifying the resident’s motivations and accommodating their wishes or walking with them. Culture of care, staff training and dementia-friendly design are keys to effective support for safe walking with purpose. Responses to walking with purpose in the domestic housing settings have raised serious deprivation of liberty issues.

This study had a number of limitations. The completed survey questionnaires represent a self-selected sample of extra care and retirement housing settings, and responses are based on the perceptions of the staff members completing the survey. There were a relatively small number of case study sites (three extra care housing and three retirement housing), and it was not possible to interview family members for all of the residents who walked with purpose.

This study provides unique data on walking with purpose in extra care and retirement housing setting in the UK.