Retirement Communities in the US Industry Market Research Report from...

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) August 03, 2013

The Retirement Communities industry is forecast to exhibit accelerated growth in the next two decades. An aging population and growing need for dementia care (care provided to those with memory impairment) are stimulating much of the industry's growth. “Retirement communities provide a number of services to assist seniors who suffer from chronic illnesses or with activities of daily living,” IBISWorld industry analyst Anna Son says. In the past five years, the number of assisted living facilities that provide dementia care has risen as a proportion of total facilities. While the industry has exhibited some resistance to the recession, a poor housing market hampers individuals' ability to move into a community because many seniors finance the expenses of retirement communities through selling their houses. As a result, the housing market's downturn over the past five years has stifled industry revenue growth. During this period, IBISWorld estimates that industry revenue will grow at an annualized rate of of 3.2% per year to total $53.9 billion, including a projected 3.1% jump in 2013.

“Profit has been pressured slightly since 2008, mainly due to costs associated with regulation compliance, although most companies have managed to maintain profitability through higher rent and entrance fees,” Son says. In addition, industry profit margins have benefited from the cutback in the supply of facilities due to hindered construction, which increased occupancy levels in existing facilities. As a result, higher occupancy rates were able to buoy the industry's profit margins, offsetting the declines in demand from those affected by the recession.

The Retirement Communities industry is highly fragmented. Currently, the four largest companies in the industry are Brookdale Senior Living, Emeritus Corporation, Five Star Quality Care and Sunrise Senior Living. Consolidation within the industry slowed during the recessionary years of 2008 and 2009, when lending was difficult to secure from banks. However, banks and private equity entities are beginning to view retirement homes and assisted living as a desirable sector again, and the major real estate investment trusts in senior housing are well-positioned to invest again.

In the five years to 2018, an improving economic environment, an aging population, healthcare reform legislation and new services will facilitate industry growth. IBISWorld estimates industry revenue will grow during the five years to 2018. As the housing market improves, more seniors will be able to sell their homes and pay resident fees. However, despite increased financing for the construction market, the supply of retirement and assisted living facilities is expected to lag behind demand. As a result, mergers and acquisitions are expected to become more common, with the number of industry companies projected to decrease in the five years to 2018. In addition, technological advances and new architectural designs will play a crucial role in industry growth as demand for innovative amenities strengthens. For more information, visit IBISWorld’s Retirement Communities in the US industry report page.

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IBISWorld industry Report Key Topics

This industry provides residential and personal care services for the elderly and other individuals who are unable to fully care for themselves or who desire to live in a community facility. The industry excludes companies that predominantly provide inpatient nursing, skilled nursing or rehabilitative services.
Industry Performance
Executive Summary
Key External Drivers
Current Performance
Industry Outlook
Industry Life Cycle
Products & Markets
Supply Chain
Products & Services
Major Markets
Globalization & Trade
Business Locations
Competitive Landscape
Market Share Concentration
Key Success Factors
Cost Structure Benchmarks
Barriers to Entry
Major Companies
Operating Conditions
Capital Intensity
Key Statistics
Industry Data
Annual Change
Key Ratios

About IBISWorld Inc.
Recognized as the nation’s most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every US industry. With an extensive online portfolio, valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. Headquartered in Los Angeles, IBISWorld serves a range of business, professional service and government organizations through more than 10 locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.ibisworld.com or call 1-800-330-3772.

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Retirement Communities in the US Industry Market Research Report from...

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) August 03, 2013

The Retirement Communities industry is forecast to exhibit accelerated growth in the next two decades. An aging population and growing need for dementia care (care provided to those with memory impairment) are stimulating much of the industry's growth. “Retirement communities provide a number of services to assist seniors who suffer from chronic illnesses or with activities of daily living,” IBISWorld industry analyst Anna Son says. In the past five years, the number of assisted living facilities that provide dementia care has risen as a proportion of total facilities. While the industry has exhibited some resistance to the recession, a poor housing market hampers individuals' ability to move into a community because many seniors finance the expenses of retirement communities through selling their houses. As a result, the housing market's downturn over the past five years has stifled industry revenue growth. During this period, IBISWorld estimates that industry revenue will grow at an annualized rate of of 3.2% per year to total $53.9 billion, including a projected 3.1% jump in 2013.

“Profit has been pressured slightly since 2008, mainly due to costs associated with regulation compliance, although most companies have managed to maintain profitability through higher rent and entrance fees,” Son says. In addition, industry profit margins have benefited from the cutback in the supply of facilities due to hindered construction, which increased occupancy levels in existing facilities. As a result, higher occupancy rates were able to buoy the industry's profit margins, offsetting the declines in demand from those affected by the recession.

The Retirement Communities industry is highly fragmented. Currently, the four largest companies in the industry are Brookdale Senior Living, Emeritus Corporation, Five Star Quality Care and Sunrise Senior Living. Consolidation within the industry slowed during the recessionary years of 2008 and 2009, when lending was difficult to secure from banks. However, banks and private equity entities are beginning to view retirement homes and assisted living as a desirable sector again, and the major real estate investment trusts in senior housing are well-positioned to invest again.

In the five years to 2018, an improving economic environment, an aging population, healthcare reform legislation and new services will facilitate industry growth. IBISWorld estimates industry revenue will grow during the five years to 2018. As the housing market improves, more seniors will be able to sell their homes and pay resident fees. However, despite increased financing for the construction market, the supply of retirement and assisted living facilities is expected to lag behind demand. As a result, mergers and acquisitions are expected to become more common, with the number of industry companies projected to decrease in the five years to 2018. In addition, technological advances and new architectural designs will play a crucial role in industry growth as demand for innovative amenities strengthens. For more information, visit IBISWorld’s Retirement Communities in the US industry report page.

Follow IBISWorld on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/IBISWorld
Friend IBISWorld on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/IBISWorld/121347533189

IBISWorld industry Report Key Topics

This industry provides residential and personal care services for the elderly and other individuals who are unable to fully care for themselves or who desire to live in a community facility. The industry excludes companies that predominantly provide inpatient nursing, skilled nursing or rehabilitative services.
Industry Performance
Executive Summary
Key External Drivers
Current Performance
Industry Outlook
Industry Life Cycle
Products & Markets
Supply Chain
Products & Services
Major Markets
Globalization & Trade
Business Locations
Competitive Landscape
Market Share Concentration
Key Success Factors
Cost Structure Benchmarks
Barriers to Entry
Major Companies
Operating Conditions
Capital Intensity
Key Statistics
Industry Data
Annual Change
Key Ratios

About IBISWorld Inc.
Recognized as the nation’s most trusted independent source of industry and market research, IBISWorld offers a comprehensive database of unique information and analysis on every US industry. With an extensive online portfolio, valued for its depth and scope, the company equips clients with the insight necessary to make better business decisions. Headquartered in Los Angeles, IBISWorld serves a range of business, professional service and government organizations through more than 10 locations worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.ibisworld.com or call 1-800-330-3772.

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Innovation in the Art Industry - a New Tool Set to Change the Way...

A new start-up based in Melbourne, Australia, has recently launched an innovative iPhone/iPad app that enables art buyers to “Try Before You Buy” with barely a few taps of a finger. The app they have developed, called WALNUT, allows people to download artwork of interest from participating galleries and artists, then uses a custom algorithm to produce a high quality visualization of how it will look in their home with correct scale and perspective. And of course users can also share these with friends and family to get their opinion. Although they have just started offering this service to art galleries and artists as a sales & marketing tool, the app also gives users the capability to visualize any image on your device, perfect for home decorators, interior designers or simply anyone who’s ever considered enlarging a photo to hang on their wall.

The co-founders of Walnut Art (Vedran Arnautovic, Michael Gregorevic & Michael Joffe) have been working on the project for around 12 months, and as their first venture together it has been a big learning experience, “Like many ideas, WALNUT was born from necessity. For sure we’re interested in cool artwork, but we’re not artists. While looking around for art to hang on our walls at home, we discovered we were all frustrated by the lack of tools to help find the right one to suit our needs. We think this is a pretty common problem, so we decided to do something about it."

To respond quickly to user feedback the team concluded that they needed to develop the whole app themselves. They were adamant it had to have a clean and easy to use interface so anyone could use it, and knew it was important to ensure it addressed the interests of both art buyers and art sellers, so multiple iterations were needed to get it just right. And it's not just the typical art gallery the team are targeting, "We also think there is big potential for art fairs where as a buyer you have only one chance to buy something you like or miss out, so being able to instantly have that extra confidence that it will suit the environment at home is really valuable. Online-only galleries is another key area where we believe WALNUT can be really useful to art buyers, because without the ability to physically see an artwork people need something extra to convince them to buy online, and we're confident WALNUT will deliver that."

Getting from the initial concept to reality has been a huge amount of work for the team, but also extremely satisfying, "We’re really excited to see people starting to use it and hear suggestions for what features we should add next. It’s also nice to think we are helping more people find cool artwork that inspires them or speaks to them in some way, and that with WALNUT they are now able to go ahead and purchase it with the confidence that it’ll look fantastic when they see it on their wall every day.”

Having brought their idea to market, the team have now turned their focus to building the business and linking up with more artists and art galleries, but they acknowledge technologies like this move fast and in response are already planning new features to expand the app’s capabilities. "We also think this is just the beginning - right now there's no reason this app wouldn't work for other products like visualizing a TV on your wall or a rug on your floor, and moving on from there the possibilities are huge."

Want to know more? Visit their website: http://www.walnut-art.com

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