The Significance of Demographic Change in the Swiss Approach to Private Rented Housing: A Potential for Ageing in Place?

Abstract

Recent findings indicate that changing social constructions of age are mirrored in a growing desire for autonomous living in later life. This individualised concept is referred to as ‘ageing in place’. This paper discusses the challenges for the housing industry and examines to what extent maintenance and development strategies of Swiss real estate investors are meeting the changing demands of older people. Drawing on a number of case studies in Switzerland the paper concludes that investors' concepts of older people and their needs are not merely out of step with the reality of older people's lives and choices but obstruct the desire to age in place. Furthermore, an analysis of the market potential of older people's wish to stay in their present home demonstrates that some investors may be failing to exploit serious business opportunities that could arise from providing services to older people.

Keywords:

• Housing for older people
• ageism
• support services
• private renting
• residential market
• housing renewal

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees and the editors of this journal for their constructive comments, which helped strengthen the arguments of this paper. Furthermore they would like to thank the Swiss National Science Foundation for funding the empirical research on which this paper is based.

Notes

¹ It is number three in Europe and contains an asset volume of US$ 388 billion. With regard to the assets per capita, Switzerland covers the top position worldwide (Hengartner, 2004).