MAIN IMAGE: Linda Piek, sales executive at RealNet RainMaker; Tiffiny Hancock, property practitioner at Harcourts Ambers
Kerry Dimmer
For years, the retirement property conversation has centred on downsizing. Then came rightsizing. Now there is risk-sizing.
Rightsizing asks, “What is the right home for the buyer?” Risk-sizing asks, “What could make this home the wrong one for the buyer later?” It raises the question property practitioners should be asking: what risks is the buyer actually trying to remove?
In investment and financial-risk contexts, risk-sizing is about determining the appropriate exposure to risk rather than simply focusing on the size of the investment. Applied to retirement property, the question becomes: how should a retiree choose a home that reduces the chance of another disruptive move later?
For the property practitioner, this changes the brief. It means looking beyond what suits the 65-year-old standing in front of you and considering whether the property could still work at 75, 80, or 85.
Buying less risk
Linda Piek, sales executive at RealNet’s RainMaker business platform, who specialises in marketing retirement villages in Pretoria East, says retirees are increasingly buying less risk rather than simply less space.
“Yes, space is part of the equation, but risk reduction is often the real motivation.” She identifies financial, lifestyle, physical, and security risks, including rising municipal costs, maintenance, isolation, distance from healthcare and support networks, stairs, large gardens, and homes that become difficult to secure.
Agents no doubt already weigh these factors when matching retirees to properties, but are they really considering the buyer’s future? And is the buyer?
A useful test is to ask: if the buyer were 85 rather than 65, what would you tell them to look for? The point is not to assume that a healthy 65-year-old will suddenly become frail. It is to avoid selling them a property that only works while they remain exactly as they are today.
Buyers themselves appear to be thinking along these lines. According to Piek, one of the biggest shifts she is seeing is that retirees are no longer asking “How much house can I afford?” but rather “What kind of home gives me the greatest freedom?”
“For many buyers, the ideal retirement property is not the largest or the cheapest. It’s the one that reduces financial pressure, enhances security, supports independence, and remains suitable for the next 15 to 20 years of life.”
The couple risk
One risk that is easily overlooked is that the property is being bought by two people whose futures may not follow the same path. One partner may remain highly active while the other becomes less mobile, and Piek says failing to plan for this is a major oversight.
“Many buyers choose a home that suits them today rather than one that will suit them in 10 or 15 years. They overlook single-level living, wide doorways, step-free entrances, accessible bathrooms, and proximity to healthcare services.”
Tiffiny Hancock, a property practitioner at Harcourts Ambers, which specialises in retirement property across The Amber Developments in Howick, says buyers need to look further ahead. “I always ask whether this home will still work for them in 10 or 15 years. The last thing they want is to have to move again.”
That means considering whether there is sufficient space if one partner eventually requires assistance, whether bathrooms can accommodate changing mobility, and whether the remaining partner could continue living independently if the other could not. As Hancock puts it: “For me it is about finding a home that suits the way the retirees live now, but that can also work for them if their circumstances change.”
The liquidity risk
Agents should also be asking a question that has little to do with today’s purchase: who will buy this property in 10 or 15 years? A retirement property can represent a substantial share of a person’s accumulated capital, so future saleability is part of the risk assessment.
This includes the development’s age, competing developments, maintenance standards, levy history, accessibility, location, transport, healthcare provision, and the supply of similar units.
Sectional title risk
Sectional title, a popular choice for retirees who are not yet ready to move into a dedicated retirement village, introduces another long-term consideration. Buyers may be attracted by lower maintenance responsibilities, but the levy does not disappear when the home loan is paid off.
Piek and Hancock both note that buyers focused only on the purchase price often underestimate levies, rates and taxes, insurance, special levies, and care-related costs later in life. For an older owner living on retirement income, future levy increases are therefore not simply an inconvenience. They can become an affordability risk.
The agent should look beyond the levy amount to what it funds: the reserve fund, maintenance planning, insurance, communal facilities, staffing, infrastructure, and the history of special levies.
The exit risk
What happens between entry and exit? For retirement property, the questions agents can prompt retiree buyers to consider include:
- What happens if one partner dies or needs frail care?
- What happens if the property becomes unaffordable, or they need to move closer to family
- What happens if the unit proves difficult to sell?
These are not morbid questions. They are about making sure buyers understand the full property lifecycle.
Hancock says she has advised retirees against properties when she believed the home would not work for them in the longer term. “If I feel that the access is going to be difficult, the driveway might be too steep, the garden is going to become too much, or the layout simply isn’t going to work for that particular person in the long term, I will say so.
“I would much rather be honest with someone and help them find the right property than sell them something I don’t believe is going to work for them in the future.”
That, arguably, is the essence of risk-sizing.
Ageing in place
“The most attractive retirement properties are often those that combine lifestyle benefits today with practical advantages for later life. This trend is commonly linked to the concept of ‘ageing in place’, where the goal is to remain independent in one suitable home for as long as possible,” says Piek.
Hancock advises buyers in this demographic not to wait until they “have” to move into a retirement estate. “Moving while they are still active gives them the opportunity to actually enjoy everything that retirement living offers. Then, if things do change as they age, they are already settled in their home, and they have the support and facilities available if needed.
“For me, that is really what good retirement living is about: enjoying independence now, but having peace of mind for the future.”
