Why Longevity Will Become an Institutional Real Estate Asset Class

Real estate becomes institutional when the demand behind it is structural, the operating model is repeatable and the asset can create durable value across cycles. Longevity is beginning to meet those conditions.

For much of the last century, the property industry organised itself around relatively stable categories: homes, offices, retail, hotels, logistics and healthcare facilities. Each category answered a recognisable need. Yet the defining needs of society do not remain fixed, and neither should the assets built to serve them.

Europe is entering a period in which longer lives, fewer working-age people and rising expectations of health will influence almost every part of the economy. Eurostat reports that the share of people aged 65 and over in the European Union rose from 16.2% in 2003 to 21.3% in 2023. Its 2025 key figures show that the number of working-age people per person aged 65 or over fell from 3.7 in 2004 to 2.7 in 2024. These are not temporary market signals. They are long-duration conditions.

From more years to better years

The most important distinction is between lifespan and healthspan. Longer life alone is not the goal. The real objective is to preserve mobility, independence, cognitive capacity, relationships and the ability to participate in society for as long as possible.

The World Health Organization frames healthy ageing around functional ability: what people are able to be and do as they grow older. Crucially for real estate, the WHO identifies the environment as part of that equation. The home, the community, access to services, social connection and the physical setting can either support or constrain an individual’s capacities.

The built environment is not a backdrop to healthy ageing. Properly designed, it becomes part of the infrastructure that enables it.

This changes the development question. A building should no longer be judged only by its location, specification and yield. We should also ask: What behaviours does it make easier? What services can it integrate? How does it support prevention, movement, recovery, nutrition, social connection and long-term wellbeing?

Why this can become an asset class

A theme is not automatically an asset class. Institutional capital needs more than a compelling story. It needs identifiable demand, disciplined underwriting, professional operations, comparable performance and a credible path to liquidity. Longevity real estate will earn institutional status only by meeting those requirements.

1. Demand is structural

Population ageing unfolds over decades. That creates a fundamentally different demand profile from short-lived consumer trends. The need spans multiple life stages and is not limited to care. It includes prevention, diagnostics, rehabilitation, medical wellness, age-adapted living, hospitality and communities designed around sustained quality of life.

2. The operating model creates defensibility

The most valuable projects will not be conventional properties with a wellness label. They will combine place, specialist operators, clinical governance where applicable, hospitality, technology and service design. That integration is difficult to reproduce. Done well, it creates a form of operational infrastructure and a stronger competitive position than design alone.

3. Real estate provides permanence

Health innovation often moves quickly; the need for trusted physical environments does not disappear. Real estate anchors services in place, creates continuity for guests and residents, and gives long-term capital a tangible basis for participation. The building is not the whole proposition, but it is the platform on which the proposition can endure.

4. Outcomes can become part of quality

The sector must be careful here. Health claims require evidence, appropriate regulation and clear boundaries. But over time, credible operators can measure service quality, engagement, retention, satisfaction and selected health-related outcomes. Better evidence can support better underwriting and help distinguish serious platforms from superficial concepts.

What institutional quality will require

The opportunity is meaningful, but it will not reward undisciplined development. Institutional longevity real estate will need a rigorous foundation:

• A clear user proposition. Projects must define whom they serve, which needs they address and why the experience belongs in that location.
• Credible specialist partners. Medical, wellness and hospitality services require operators with the right expertise, governance and reputation.
• Adaptable architecture. Buildings must accommodate evolving technology, service models and user expectations without losing coherence.
• Measurable standards. Quality needs transparent definitions and consistent measurement, without overstating clinical effects.
• Long-term alignment. Capital, developer and operator incentives must support patient development and durable stewardship rather than short-term extraction.
• Regulatory discipline. Healthcare rules, data privacy, licensing and consumer protection need to be designed into the model from the beginning.

This is why I describe the category as Human Infrastructure. It is real estate conceived not merely as space, but as an enabling system that connects environment, expertise and services around a long-term human need.

Europe’s particular opportunity

Europe brings together several qualities that matter: respected medical systems, deep hospitality expertise, varied climates, strong cultural identity and a mature real estate market. Southern Europe offers year-round lifestyle advantages and international accessibility. Switzerland contributes a tradition of medical excellence and discretion. Germany, Austria, Portugal and France each add distinct clinical, natural and hospitality strengths.

The opportunity is not to standardise these places into a single formula. It is to build a carefully selected network united by common principles: trusted expertise, exceptional environments, measurable quality and long-term stewardship.

A patient thesis

New asset classes do not emerge because they are named. They emerge when sustained demand meets repeatable execution and transparent performance. Longevity real estate is still developing those conventions. That is precisely why this period matters.

The organisations that shape the category now have a responsibility to define it well: to separate evidence from promise, to combine ambition with discipline and to build places worthy of long-term trust.

My conviction is simple. As societies focus less on adding years and more on improving the quality of those years, the environments that enable healthier lives will become essential infrastructure. Real estate will be one of the most important ways that infrastructure takes physical form.