Fast-ageing S. Korea sees money in luxury retirement homes

Eighty-five-year-old Park Jong-chul in Seoul recently decided it was time to move to a retirement home to secure the help he and his wife were starting to need.

After viewing a presentation for VL Le West, a high-end apartment complex for seniors being developed by conglomerate Lotte, he is ready to sign up for one of the few remaining rooms.

“This kind of senior home provides three meals a day,” he said, adding that it was not too expensive considering what it costs to hire a housekeeper.

He joins a growing number of South Korean retirees looking to spend their twilight years in self-paid retirement homes. In one of the world’s fastest-ageing countries, these residences are emerging in popularity, with the likes of Lotte and Hyundai investing billions of dollars on new projects.

Unlike nursing homes and assisted living facilities, such homes cater to people who can still go about their day activities independently but want services such as meals and cleaning, as well as the company of other retirees.

Few such properties existed in South Korea until a few years ago because of traditional expectations that children should look after their ageing parents.

As such homes do not cater to people with medical conditions, such as dementia, and are not subsidised by public insurance, they are mainly for a rich minority - but a growing one.

The wealth of South Korea’s new retirees is at an all-time high, thanks to careers that overlapped with the country’s economic boom years.