Asia Pacific’s longevity advantage: What it means for senior living

The experience of ageing is changing. Advances in health technologies are delaying the onset of disease, extending functional independence and reshaping expectations of what later life can look like. Older adults are moving through advanced ages with wellbeing, capabilities and preferences that differ materially from those of previous cohorts. These shifts are beginning to test the adequacy of the environments that have traditionally supported later life.

Nowhere are these shifts more visible than in developed Asia Pacific (APAC), where early adoption of AI‑enabled health tools are accelerating this transition. As the experience of ageing evolves, so too does the demand for housing, community and services.

For investors, these changes raise new questions. What kinds of environments will older adults increasingly seek? How are markets responding? And where does genuine investability emerge as demographic momentum meets operational maturity?

This paper explores these questions and examines how demographic change, healthier ageing and market evolution are converging to reshape the senior living landscape across developed APAC, and what that means for long‑duration capital.

1 Structural shifts redefining longevity in APAC

1.1 Increases in lifespan and health span, led by developed APAC

Life expectancy is rising through advances in prevention, early detection and chronic disease management, rather than the traditional public health gains that defined earlier decades in developed economies. Global life expectancy now stands at 73.3 years, more than eight years higher than in the mid‑1990s, and is projected to reach 77.4 years by 2054¹. By the late 2050s, more than half of the world’s population is expected to live to at least age 80, compared with fewer than one in five three decades ago².

As people live longer, the emphasis is shifting from lifespan alone to the quality of those added years. Healthy life expectancy (HALE) – the years lived in good health – now sit alongside total lifespan as a core metric, reframing ageing around capability, independence and productive potential.

Developed APAC sits at the frontier of these shifts, with Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Australia consistently ranking among the highest globally in increasing both life expectancy³ and healthy lifespan⁴. Over the past two decades, HALE in developed APAC has increased by 3.7 years, more than double the 1.75 year improvement seen across Europe and North America⁵.

At the same time, global population growth is slowing, with the world now projected to peak at around 10.3 billion in the mid‑2080s, and far higher likelihood that the peak occurs within this century than previously estimated⁶. This slowdown reflects structurally lower fertility, with remaining growth sustained mainly by the fading momentum of large generations already alive rather than rising births⁷.

These dynamics are even more pronounced in APAC, where fertility has remained well below replacement for decades⁸. With smaller families and fewer adult children available to provide informal care, the multigenerational households that historically supported elder care are declining. In its place, a growing share of seniors are ageing alone or opting for purpose-built senior living environments, reflecting both demographic necessity and evolving preferences as longevity, healthy lifespan and independence continue to rise.

1.2 Rising financial and digital capability among APAC seniors

As longevity and healthy lifespans improve, future seniors in the region are also poised to enjoy greater financial capacity. Decades of pension reform, compulsory savings schemes and sustained accumulation of retirement assets mean older adults across developed APAC will enter later life with more resilient financial foundations than earlier cohorts.

In Australia, for example, structural policy changes – including the expansion of the compulsory Superannuation Guarantee, higher mandated employer contribution rates and the long‑term maturation of the superannuation system – have driven a substantial uplift in retirement balances. As a result, typical couples over 65 now hold more than AUD$800,000 in superannuation assets⁹.

Similar improvements across Singapore, South Korea and Japan are enhancing the adequacy, coverage and long‑term sustainability of retirement income systems. A cohort that is simultaneously healthier and wealthier will exercise greater agency over how and where they age, and will increasingly demand environments that support independence, optionality and high quality of life.

At the same time, digital engagement among older adults is accelerating rapidly. APAC's internet user base has expanded at an 9.4% CAGR over the past decade, outpacing growth in the Americas and Europe¹⁰.

This growth is supporting broader uptake of telehealth, remote monitoring and other digital health tools. Market evidence shows seniors across APAC are becoming far more comfortable with digital tools and are increasingly managing their wellbeing in increasingly proactive, data‑informed and preference‑led ways¹¹.

1.3 AI is set to extend healthy lifespans, especially among APAC’s digitally advanced populations

Against this backdrop, AI is beginning to reshape health outcomes in ways that align with and accelerate these demographic patterns. Rather than relying on single breakthroughs, AI enables continuous improvements across diagnostics, prevention, risk stratification and behavioural health – incremental gains that compound over time to extend both total lifespan and healthy lifespan.

AI‑enabled diagnostics are already among the most advanced applications. In Singapore, clinical trials using AI‑powered retinal imaging have demonstrated the ability to predict cognitive decline and dementia risk up to five years before clinical symptoms appear¹². This represents a move away from episodic, symptom‑driven identification toward continuous, non‑invasive monitoring that surfaces disease trajectories long before conventional methods. Earlier detection opens wider intervention windows, slows disease progression and improves the effectiveness of downstream treatments.

AI is also transforming preventive care. The Vitality-Google initiative demonstrates how large‑scale behavioural personalisation can materially influence long‑term health outcomes. By analysing thousands of daily signals – spanning sleep, activity, nutrition and broader lifestyle dimensions – the platform generates personalised recommendations that users can act on daily. Early evidence suggests that targeted behaviour change based on personalised prompts could extend healthy lifespan by several years¹³.

These developments combined mark a significant evolution in preventive health. AI is making it possible to operationalise prevention at population scale through predictive analytics, personalised nudges and high‑frequency monitoring. This is especially significant for digitally fluent, ageing societies, where most disease burden arises from chronic conditions that can be meaningfully altered through early intervention and sustained behavioural change.

With that said, AI is not expected to displace traditional healthcare systems but augments their capacity – extending clinical reach, sharpening risk assessment and rebalancing care from treatment toward anticipation and prevention. As these technologies become more deeply embedded across diagnostic and behavioural pathways, healthy lifespan is likely to rise further, with direct implications for how societies, markets and built environments adapt to longer, more active lives.

As APAC’s senior population grows larger, healthier, wealthier and more actively engaged, the implications for the built environment become increasingly clear. Longer periods of functional independence, combined with stronger financial resilience and deeper digital engagement, mean older adults are approaching later life with clearer preferences, increasingly prioritising autonomy, community and quality of experience over traditional care‑led models.

As preferences evolve, demand is moving toward independent, experience‑led senior living that supports wellbeing and community rather than dependency. For investors, this is creating a clear structural opportunity. In developed APAC, where longevity and healthy lifespan already surpass global benchmarks and technology‑enabled health optimisation is advancing quickly, modern senior living models are positioned for sustained and resilient growth.

2 The institutionalisation of senior living in APAC

2.1 Capital and liquidity are scaling in tandem

As longevity extends and the profile of older adults evolves, the senior living sector in developed APAC is gradually moving from a niche alternative to a recognised institutional sleeve. In 2025, institutional investors deployed US$4.2 billion into the region’s senior living segments, more than double the 10‑year historical average and the strongest annual inflow on record¹⁴.

Operator‑level transparency has improved at the same time. Senior living platforms are now more data‑rich, reporting is more consistent, fee structures are clearer and occupancy patterns more predictable. The rise of professionally managed, multi‑asset platforms has also made large‑ticket deployment practical in ways that were rare a decade ago.

Liquidity is improving in parallel. Portfolio transactions are becoming larger and more frequent, aiding price discovery and underwriting confidence. Across 2024–25, average annual senior living transaction volume reached US$550 million, an 80% increase relative to the prior seven year trend¹⁵. As operators consolidate and cross‑border participation grows, the market is developing clearer valuation reference points and depth needed to become a scalable institutional housing category.

2.2 Australia leads APAC’s senior living maturity

Within APAC, Australia stands out as the region’s most mature, investable and institutionally ready senior living market. Its senior living ecosystem benefits from decades of policy support, established operating platforms and consistent consumer demand. Two formats anchor the market:

• Retirement Villages (RVs): Purpose‑built communities for older adults that offer independent living within a supportive environment, typically combining private dwellings with shared amenities, social programming and light‑touch services.
• Land Lease Communities (LLCs): A tenure model where residents own their home but lease the land it sits on, creating a more affordable, transparent and consumer‑friendly option that provides community living with predictable ongoing costs.

Over the past decade, these combined segments have delivered 55,000 new units nationally, providing a depth of stock unmatched elsewhere in the region¹⁶ RVs remain significant, but growth has skewed strongly toward LLCs.

2.3 Australia’s LLCs: A scalable model for long‑dated, inflation‑linked income

Australia’s LLC model stands out for its clarity, affordability and ability to generate two distinct but reinforcing income streams. The hybrid tenure structure, in which residents own their home but lease the land, reduces transaction friction, enhances affordability and supports consistently high occupancy. This has strengthened consumer appeal and, in turn, improved investor confidence by creating predictable, recurring ground rent income.

The model delivers two complementary income streams:

• Development‑driven returns: Investors typically partner with established developers to build and sell homes, capturing 15–20% IRRs while sharing pre‑development and construction risk¹⁷. This provides upfront, cash‑backed development profits.
• Long‑dated rental income: Once homes are sold, ongoing ground rent (generally indexed annually) creates low‑volatility, inflation‑linked annuity-style cash flows. The tenure structure supports high occupancy, high affordability and predictable operating performance.

Although the sector has expanded meaningfully, it remains early in its institutionalisation curve relative to manufactured housing and land lease assets in the US. As penetration increases and platforms scale, yields may start to compress. The trajectory of Australia’s purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector is instructive. Over the past decade, PBSA yield spreads over build‑to‑sell residential narrowed from 400 to 120 basis points as institutional participation deepened. LLCs could possibly follow a similar path.

Australia’s senior living ecosystem also benefits from mature regulatory frameworks, operational standardisation and well‑capitalised platforms, providing governance and visibility that are more challenging to achieve in emerging APAC markets. Elsewhere in the region, fragmentation, limited scale and regulatory uncertainty continue to constrain institutional entry, widening Australia’s lead as the region’s benchmark senior living market.

2.4 Japan and South Korea: ‘Super‑aged’ societies with early stage senior living formation

While Australia provides immediate depth and liquidity, Japan and South Korea offer long‑horizon growth shaped by some of the world’s strongest demographic pressures. Both countries have already become ‘super‑aged,’ societies with more than 20% of their populations aged 65 and over.

Japan counts around 36.2 million people aged 65+, nearly one third of its population, and over 17% aged 75+¹⁸. In South Korea, demographic shifts are equally pronounced. The number of older adults (aged 65+) living alone reached about 2.19 million in 2024, a rise of nearly 46% in five years, reflecting rapid household change as multi‑generational living declines¹⁹.

Yet provision remains exceptionally limited. South Korea’s independent living stock can accommodate only about 0.12% of its 65+ population, representing one of the lowest provision rates among developed markets²⁰. Japan’s provision rate is higher but still modest at roughly 2% of its senior population, far below the levels seen in more established senior living systems or in Australia’s senior living ecosystem²¹. The mismatch between demographic demand and available supply points to a multi‑decade structural opportunity as both countries will require substantial expansion of professionally managed, autonomy‑focused senior living communities.

There are, however, clear indications that market formation is underway. Regulatory frameworks in both countries are slowly becoming clearer, reducing perceived entry risks for operators and investors. South Korea’s government, for example, is expanding senior housing policy initiatives²² and supporting healthcare‑linked REIT structures to attract private capital into elder housing and care assets²³.

In parallel, consumer attitudes are shifting. Older adults in Japan and South Korea are showing greater openness to community‑oriented, independence‑enhancing environments rather than traditional institutional care²⁴. Here, severe undersupply and fragmented provision have begun to open space for new models to emerge, with markets gradually moving toward contemporary, community‑focused senior housing solutions as awareness and regulatory clarity increase.

If these trends continue, Japan and South Korea could follow the trajectory of France, the US and Australia, where senior living established itself as an institutional asset class over a one to two decade period.

3 Aligning capital with demographic reality

The forces reshaping later life are creating a clearer and more investable opportunity set across developed APAC. As seniors in the region remain independent for longer and engage more actively with their environments, demand is shifting toward modern, experience‑led living models that sit between private housing and traditional care.

Australia already demonstrates how these preferences translate into institutional depth, supported by established operating frameworks and reliable consumer acceptance. Japan and South Korea, while earlier in their market formation, offer significant long‑term potential as demographic pressures, policy evolution and changing attitudes converge to create space for new models to scale.

Capturing this opportunity depends on operational strength, disciplined capital deployment and alignment with capable local partners. Senior living remains a service‑intensive and regulation‑sensitive sector, and the most effective operators will be those able to convert demographic momentum into steady income and resilient asset performance. In our view, investors who position early, partner well and take a regional perspective will be best placed to participate in the evolution and institutionalisation of this growing market.

^1,2,6,7 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Publications, ‘World Population Prospects 2024: Summary of Results’, (desapublications.un.org), July 2024.
³ World Bank Group, ‘Life expectancy at birth, total (years)’, (data.worldbank.org), 2023.
⁴ World Health Organization, ‘Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE)’, (https://data.who.int/dashboards/global-progress/hale), 2021.
⁵ World Health Organization, ‘Healthy Life Expectancy at birth (HALE)’, (data.who.int), August 2024.
⁸ OECD, ‘Society at a Glance: Asia/Pacific 2025, A Spotlight on Fertility Trends’, (oecd.org), February 2025.
⁹ Australia Taxation Office, ‘Taxation Statistics 2022-23’, (data.gov.au), April 2025.
¹⁰ International Telecommunication Union, ‘Global and regional ICT data’, (itu.int), November 2025.
¹¹ Kym Chua, ‘Digital Health Statistics (APAC) | Market Size, Forecasts & Key Trends’, (smarthealthasia.com), February 2026.
¹² Ming Ann Sim, Yih Chung Tham, Simon Nusinovici, Ten Cheer Quek, Marco Yu, Can Can Xue, Miao Li Chee, Qing Sheng Peng, Eugene S. J. Tan, Siew Pang Chan, Yuan Cai, Eddie Jun Yi Chong, Boon Yeow Tan, Narayanaswamy Venketasubramanian, Saima Hilal, Mitchell K. P. Lai, Hyungwon Choi, Arthur Mark Richards, Ching-Yu Cheng and Christopher L. H. Chen, ‘A deep-learning retinal aging biomarker for cognitive decline and incident dementia’, (alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com), March 2025.
¹³ Vitality Research Institute and London School of Economics, ‘Better Sleep Behaviours Could Extend Life Expectancy’, (vitality.co.uk), January 2026.
^14,15 Real Capital Analytics, February 2026.
¹⁶ Think Economics, August 2025.
¹⁷ M&G estimates, December 2025.
¹⁸ Cabinet Office, Japan, ‘Annual report on the ageing society [Summary] FY 2025’, (www8.cao.go.jp), June 2025.
¹⁹ KOSIS, ‘Number of Private Households by Household Head's Age and Household Size and Province’, (kosis.kr), December 2026.
²⁰ PMA,  August 2025.
²¹ PMA,  August 2025.
²² Kim You-jin, ‘Korea expands Silver Stay project, aims for 1,500 new units for seniors this year’, (biz.chosun.com), February 2025.
²³ Oh-Sang Yoo, ‘S.Korea eases path for foreign REITs in senior housing push’, (kedglobal.com), June 2025.
²⁴ Tomoko Ikeuchi, Tzu-Yu Lin and Donghee Han, ‘Beyond Independence: Cultural Values and Dependence Avoidance Among Older Adults in Japan and South Korea', (academic.oup.com), December 2025.

The views expressed in this document should not be taken as a recommendation, advice or forecast.

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