Analysis
Health

Gulf’s growth in retirees drives demand for senior services

December 16, 2024, 11:50 AM

Senior services such as at-home healthcare visits for retirees will help to keep costs lower, experts say

Senior offerings launching
Retirees relocating to GCC
UAE offers five-year visa

Changing demographics globally are paving the way for a new seniors industry in the Gulf.

UAE-headquartered Aster DM Healthcare and Bahrain’s GFH Financial Investment Group are Gulf household names that have entered this fledgling but promising business with targeted medical and property services.

The baby boomer generation now ranges between 60 and nearly 80 years of age. In much of the world, they comprise one of the two largest generations in history alongside millennials.

And many of them are deep-pocketed, having benefited from strong economic growth as workers, according to Mansoor Ahmed, a longtime healthcare, real estate and education advisor in the Middle East and North Africa.

“Retirees from developed nations have increasingly started to expatriate to sunny destinations that are three to four hours away from home and offer a better cost of living and quality of life,” Ahmed tells AGBI.

“Many countries in the Mena region, such as the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Oman and, more recently, Saudi Arabia can target this segment of the market.”

The GCC also has a rising number of older citizens as life expectancy improves.

They, too, are more likely to be affluent than previous generations of locals, and thus may be keen on “high-quality” senior housing in resort destinations such as the Red Sea, Neom and Ras Al Khaimah, according to Ahmed.

In late November, GFH established a new developer, Outlive, to build supportive environments specifically designed for older adults in Mena and Europe.

Senior housing is a massive business in the US but not yet a big trend in the Gulf.

According to Matthew Green, CBRE’s head of research for Mena, the few existing properties are nursing care facilities for people with substantial or full-time needs.

But things might be changing in the UAE in particular after the emirates introduced in 2020 a renewable five-year retirement visa for foreigners aged 55 or older who have proven financial means.

That prompted “several” local developers to “actively assess opportunities” in the segment, especially in independent and assisted living, Green says.

Independent and assisted living cater to seniors who need little to moderate support and primarily seek activities and engagement with peers.

“For now, these projects broadly remain in the planning and early execution phases,” Green says.

“However, there does appear to be demand from international operators, predominantly from Asia and Europe, to enter the region, and the UAE in particular, due to the strong fundamentals for real estate growth, growing population and the high per capita income levels.”

CBRE expects the UAE’s retirement-age population of 55 or older, currently around 7 percent, to rise over the next 10 years as citizens live longer, and older, wealthy foreigners spend time here as retirees, entrepreneurs or freelancers.

This will drive demand for senior housing.

“There is likely to be a significant ramp up in activity in the coming years as the first facilities start to open,” Green says, adding the government is slated to “heavily” support this nascent industry.

Ensuring seniors’ ability to secure comprehensive and accessible healthcare should be a top priority, Green believes.

Enter the partnership between Aster DM Healthcare and Dubai Insurance (DIC) unveiled November 26 under the brand Vibrance Senior.

The new plan – with annual premiums from AED 16,693 to AED 27,591 ($4,545 to $7,515) for AED 150,000 ($40,850) in coverage – will draw on telehealth and other medical technology to meet the outsized requirements of older patients who often battle complex chronic conditions.

“An aging population, coupled with an increasing number of retirees settling in the UAE, has significantly raised the demand for geriatric healthcare services,” a representative from Dubai Insurance says.

Remote visits, preventive care, and outpatient and at-home treatment are vital to keeping “inherently” high insurance costs down for seniors, the DIC representative says, adding that previously plans typically topped AED 25,000 ($6,800) in annual premiums.

At-home care for primary care and diabetes management is the focus of First Response Healthcare, a medical provider which has grown from 16 employees in Dubai in 2018 to more than 250 across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah and Qatar today.

First Response’s services are not exclusively for seniors, but they do satisfy seniors’ especially strong preference to avoid traveling to a doctor’s office or clinic, says CEO Pavan Sharma.

Leaner medical services for non-acute conditions can also help to relieve the financial pressures on governments.

“Just for primary care, you have to create lots of healthcare infrastructure,” Sharma says. “If you shift primary care to technology and home visits, your existing infrastructure can take care of all the other critical needs.”