Taking care: Europe’s senior living market proves popular with European investors

Care homes and senior living, such as retirement villages with medical and hotel-style facilities, are proving popular with investors across Europe.

As a result, the sector has been growing steadily. Investment in European care homes has seen sustained growth, with investment totalling €2.3 billion, €3.8 billion and €5.7 billion in 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively, according to Andrew Cowley, managing partner at Impact Health Partners, the investment manager for the Impact Healthcare REIT. “Germany is by far the most liquid market, with more than €5 billion transacted since 2020, with the UK following in second place with €2.5 billion,” he says. “Healthcare outperforms other real estate in economic downturns with built-in resilience as demand for care is non-discretionary, non-cyclical and largely uncorrelated with the wider economy, and mainly demographically driven. Plus, you have inflation-linked rents and strong government support for a sector that remain