Lockdown slowed down the pace of investing money in the construction industry for seniors in Europe, but the market is invariably prospective. It is only just being born in Poland, we read in Rzeczpospolita daily on Wednesday.

As the daily writes, housing for seniors means, apart from housing portfolios for institutional rental and student dormitories, so-called alternative part of the commercial real estate market. Every year, investors invest more and more money in this type of facilities. The pandemic froze the possibility of concluding transactions, but did not stifle the demand.

Rzeczpospolita reports that, according to analysts of the German branch of Savills, in the first half of 2020, €515 million (PLN 2.3 billion) was invested in construction for seniors, by 25 percent more y/y.  Five years ago, the annual value of investments was as high as in the first half of this year. In 2017-2018, the amount of money invested has already increased to €1.4 billion, and in the record-breaking 2019, investors made purchases for almost €2 billion.

The daily notes, however, that in Poland, housing for seniors is still developing. "Our market is operated by Orpea Polska belonging to the French group. Nursing and rehabilitation homes are the foundation of the business, but in some cases the company creates serviced apartments. Such apartments operate in Wrocław, others will be built in Poznań. These apartments allow for independent living, but tenants have the opportunity Origin Investments is also working on creating its own network of serviced apartments for seniors, using the experience of the Origin Group from Canada.

(PAP)