Lendlease Enters China Senior Housing Market With $302M Shanghai Project

Australia’s largest provider of senior housing is entering the Chinese elder living market for the first time. Aussie property developer Lendlease is set to develop a RMB 1.9 billion ($302 million) senior living community in Shanghai, China, according to a statement from the company.

Lendlease has signed a contract with the Qingpu district government which provides the company with 50-year land use rights to a plot in the suburban Shanghai district which it plans to develop and operate as a senior housing project, the statement shows.

“It will cater to a fast-growing demographic sector and require a combination of both local development and senior living management skills,” Tony Lombardo, CEO for Asia at Lendlease said of the project. “Our first senior living development in Qingpu will provide a quality community supporting the social and health needs of its residents.”

A Portfolio of Shanghai Senior Housing Coming

With nearly one-third of Shanghai’s 24 million inhabitants now aged 60 or above as at 2017 year-end, there is a large demand for senior living communities in Shanghai, the company said, and the developer is also looking for further opportunities to develop more senior communities across the city.

Forecast to start construction early next year, Lendlease’s first senior community is located in Zhujiajiao, a heritage water town within Qingpu. The project, which Lendlease estimates will be worth approximately RMB1.9 billion when completed, will provide approximately 900 individual living units, gardens, recreation areas, health and wellbeing facilities and a large community clubhouse.

The seniors tucked away in Lendlease’s new Zhujiajiao facility will be connected to the Hongqiao transportation hub in western Shanghai via Metro Line 17, which opened at the beginning of this year.

Developers And Insurers Among Market Players

As a third of China’s 1.4 billion population is expected to be 60 or older by 2050, investors have been have been eager to build senior living developments.

In December 2016, China Vanke announced its first public-private partnership senior living project in Shenzhen, and the developer now has 101 senior living projects in 11 Chinese cities including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, according to the corporate website of Vanke’s senior housing arm.

Insurers are also investing in senior living projects in the country. Since 2015, Beijing-based Taikang Life Insurance has built retirement communities in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with the financial services group now having invested a combined $1.7 billion building a portfolio of 6,600 apartments, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Experienced Senior Housing Provider

Lendlease, which manages more than 70 senior living communities totalling 12,500 retirement living units with 16,500 residents in Australia, is poised to make use of its industry expertise in Shanghai. The developer’s decision to pursue senior living projects in Greater China comes after it already has completed more than 300 real estate projects in the territory since the early 1990s.

Headquartered in Sydney, ASX-listed Lendlease has operations in Australia, Asia, Europe and the Americas.