The Waimea Weekly and The New Zealand Herald have both been active participants on the topic of retirement villages during their most recent editions.
Reporting on Brian Peat’s recent well attended meeting in Stoke, The Waimea Weekly warmly commented on the progress being made regarding legislation that would require retirement villages to to improve their financial reimbursement practices amongst other issues. On the subject of encouraging some positive action and progress to be made, the article quotes Brian as saying “There’s a huge opportunity this election year to vote. Tap an MP on the shoulder and ask them what they think of the act.”
The Tasman chairman for RVResidents, Garry Thompson comments that elderly people have accepted the agreements with their variation of clauses because they want the lifestyle of a village, the compassion and the security as they get older. If problems arise, it is often too hard to fight for their rights, especially when the act does not protect them.
To read the full article in Issuu, please click on the following link and flip to page 6:
https://issuu.com/nelsonweekly/docs/22_march_2023_-_ww
The New Zealand Herald has produced a comprehensive feature article, investigating and comparing the identities of the people in charge of our country’s top rated facilities, and the retirement villages they represent. They look into who is behind all the villages, how they came about, whether they’re good for us, where they are and who’s moving in… the ‘what’s going on and who’s who’ in the retirement village market. We’re shown a easy to understand percentage breakdown info-graphic of who has a slice of the pie. There is a brief foray into the current areas getting attention and current concerns such as deferred management fees, repairs and replacement in retirement-living buildings, but also the acknowledgment that buying into a village isn’t necessarily a good financial decision, it’s more about lifestyle, health and making the best decision for that time in their life. Some interesting statistics tell us where many over 75 year olds are choosing to live, why, and how this is forecast to change in the near future. The second half of the article includes a headshot and information about values and numbers plus some inside information on the chief execs of the main players: Ryman, Summerset, Oceania, Bupa, Metlifecare, Arvida, Generus Group, Northbrook, Radius Residential Care, Hopper Living and Vivid Living.
You can read the full article here (note this is a paid for article and may require a New Zealand Herlad subscription):
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/power-list-top-nz-retirement-village-owner-operators-bosses-listed/EROXKN7T6JHEPMKKHEW4XLIOBI/