The largest generational cohort (the baby boomers) have been drivers of extraordinary changes across the globe. Their influence on fashion, music, technology, policy and even the way cities have expanded is nothing to be sniffed at. And this generation is about to be responsible for one of the biggest opportunities in property markets. The growing need for senior housing.
In fact, Chris Bedingfield, Principal and Portfolio Manager at Quay Global Investors points to it being behind one of the highest conviction ideas in the Quay Global Real Estate Fund (Unhedged).
“We like to call it a silver tsunami of people coming through who are going to need this type of accommodation, be it assisted or unassisted living. The demand story is really interesting but the supply story is equally compelling because this is a sector that got beaten up during covid. It was ground zero for a lot of covid issues and supply has really fallen away. You have a perfect storm of a great demographic tailwind and very limited supply,” Bedingfield says.
Even better, Bedingfield notes that this opportunity is largely economically insensitive. Aging is inevitable, after all.
In this edition of Expert Insights, Bedingfield discusses the opportunities from the silver tsunami and the other global trends Quay is monitoring, his highest conviction idea and some of the risks he is seeing in global real estate.
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Edited transcript:
Can you discuss some of the global thematics you are seeing?
I think the easy one for most people to understand is ageing demographics. One of the areas I think is really interesting right now is senior accommodation or housing, which is typically for people of 75-85 years old. We know that cohort is growing very rapidly over the next three to four years. In just two years’ time,