The new group will have combined of over £3bn, a total pipeline of more than 30 retirement villages and around 3,000 individual properties.
Leading retirement villages developers and operators, Elysian Residences and Audley Group, have announced their merger under a new Group company, with external investment from institutional funds.
The Group will have a combined sales value of over £3billion, making it the largest retirement village provider in the UK, with over 30 villages both in operation and in the pipeline that represent around 3,000 individual properties.
The merger brings together three retirement village brands, Elysian, Audley Villages and Mayfield Villages, which will all be retained. Elysian and Audley are complementary models which have already reached significant scale and will continue their growth trajectories to bring new units to market across the country. Mayfield, in the mid-market, is a relatively new brand in an underserved sector, providing the same full-service model but at a more affordable price point.
The Group says that the timing of the merger provides extensive opportunities, with a recent report from Savills finding that owner occupiers aged 65 plus hold a record £2.6trillion of net housing wealth.
In 2024, the pipeline of retirement housing in the UK reached just 30,000 homes, falling short of the 50,000 per year needed to meet the demand in the sector. £1.25billion was invested and committed to the retirement housing market in 2024, with investment expected to increase in 2025, according to the latest Knight Frank UK Seniors Housing Market Update.
The three village brands will sit under a new corporate group, which will be led by Gavin Stein as CEO and Nick Sanderson as chair, with Gavin remaining CEO of Elysian Residences and Nick as CEO of Audley and Mayfield. Nick and Gavin are the founders of the two businesses and have known and worked with each other on sector dynamics for over 15 years. They will be supported by a combined management team which brings together all the expertise within Elysian Residences and Audley Group.