Seniors’ housing is in critically short supply in the UK, with enough units to cater to only 5.6% of the over-65 population, according to a joint report by real estate service firm Cushman & Wakefield and the British Property Federation (BPF).

The report highlights an urgent need to rapidly increase delivery rates and calls for a seniors’ housebuilding target of 50,000 new units a year. Failure to tackle the shortfall to date has placed additional strain on the NHS and social care services, as well as blocking the release of mainstream housing into the wider market, according to the report.

In a previous report authored in 2020, the two organisations called for Government to establish a Housing for Older People Taskforce, at the time stating that there were around 11m people aged over 65 years in England and Wales, and by 2029 there will be 2.1m more, highlighting the growing disparity between supply and demand.

Since the 2020 report was released, the Older People’s Housing Taskforce has now been created and formally kicked off in April 2023. Along with a new housebuilding target, this report sets out key recommendations for the new taskforce, including a national strategy for housing the UK’s ageing population and planning reform to allocate a proportion of new housing to seniors housing.