by THO
Real estate company Primus Senior Living plans to invest over ₹2200 crore to develop 5 million sq ft of senior living homes in India within five years, Adarsh Narahari, founder and MD, Primus Senior Living told HT.com.
This will include 4500 homes in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Chennai. “We have 1.5 million already under different stages of construction; the rest are yet to be launched. We will have five projects in Bengaluru, three in Chennai, two in Mumbai, one in Hyderabad and Pune, and three in Kolkata,” Narahari said.
The ticket size of the projects will be between ₹60 lakh and ₹3 crore. Mumbai will have homes priced between ₹1.5 and ₹3 crore, and southern cities will have homes priced between ₹70 lakh and ₹1.5 crore.
Special features in the senior living units include anti-skid flooring, wheelchair-accessible doors, and special bathrooms to accommodate seniors’ needs. These apartments also feature public announcement systems in common spaces and emergency bells in each unit.”
Majority of homes in southern India
Narahari said about 66% of the upcoming launches will be in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.
“We see a good demand for senior homes in southern India. This also comes with awareness and acceptance of the concept,” he added.
For Bengaluru, the company is considering areas like Sarjapura Road and Whitefield in the east and north.
He said high land costs and the unavailability of land parcels are the reasons we cannot build homes close to the city centre.
Do senior living homes command a premium?
Narahari said senior living apartments have a 30% premium rental charge over regular apartments. Typically, these assets have a rental yield of 4 to 4.5%, while a regular apartment will have about 2-3%.
The company witnessed over 30% growth in the number of seniors who want to invest in the product for rental purposes.
“We see two kinds of people here: one who is staying abroad, 45-50 years old, and already has ancestral properties. They invest in senior living products in India and rent them out before they move back and occupy it themselves,” Narahari said.
The second is people in India who invest to move in after retirement.
Last year, in a seed fundraising round managed by General Catalyst, the company raised $20 million with Gruhas and Nikhil Kamath’s Zerodha.
According to Narhari, the funds will create a platform dedicated to senior citizens’ healthcare within senior living projects.
