Arcadia Waters buys retirement village for $5.5m

Retirement home operator Arcadia Waters has purchased the 194-unit Lattitude Lakelands village for close to $5.5 million.

The village was developed by Peet as part of the larger Lakelands development, about 10 minutes north of Mandurah.

The sale, coordinated by Cygnet West’s Henry Vu and Wayne Lawrence, settled on June 30.

Mr Lawrence said there had been a dearth of retirement villages sold across Australia in the past decade.

“This is one of very few sales and I think it’s a sign that more buyers are looking for retirement villages as an alternative asset class,” he said.

“WAs residential market continues to perform well despite recent interest rate rises largely due to the simple fact that we are one of the cheapest housing markets in the nation.

“The one thing that makes retirement villages tick is residential house price growth.

“In a bouyant market people are able to sell out of their existing house to move into a retirement village more easily, then you get more turnover within the retirement village.”

Mr Vu said these type of assets tend to receive a lot of interest, often from groups not familiar with the industry.

“It isn’t a traditional asset class, it really is an accommodation and people business,” he said.

“You ideally have to be an established provider or have some experience in the space.”

The $70 million Lattitude Lakelands was built around 2007 as part of Peet's expanding Senior Living division.