Senior housing remains a niche market

While demographic shifts are reshaping the German and Dutch residential landscapes, a recent Kingstone Real Estate webinar highlighted that specialised senior housing remains a fragmented niche.

Maximilian Radert, head of Product Development & Research at Kingstone Real Estate, Günter Vornholz, founder of ImmobilienResearch, and Jean Klijnen, managing director at Kingstone Real Estate Benelux (

Maximilian Radert, head of Product Development & Research at Kingstone Real Estate, Günter Vornholz, founder of ImmobilienResearch, and Jean Klijnen, managing director at Kingstone Real Estate Benelux (KREBLX), noted that 95% of older citizens in Germany and the Netherlands prefer to "age in place" in traditional homes to maintain familiarity and avoid the higher rents and service fees tied to assisted living facilities.

Consequently, retrofitting existing housing stock with basic accessibility features—like level-access showers—presents a critical, pragmatic opportunity for landlords.

For investors, the market is highly segmented rather than a uniform mass market.

The younger "baby boomer" senior demographic will peak by 2040, whereas the need for intensive care-related facilities for the very old will climb until 2050.

Geographically, demand is strongest in structurally weaker or peripheral regions where aging populations are concentrated.

At the same time, demand is shifting in medium-sized cities, peripheral areas and well-connected commuter locations. The Netherlands shows similar patterns. University cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Maastricht, Groningen and Eindhoven have younger population structures, while smaller towns and peripheral regions are already characterised by a higher proportion of senior households. At the same time, hybrid formats are increasingly emerging in these locations, including housing concepts in which students and older people live together and support one another in everyday life.

Demand for care-related and accessible housing formats is expected to continue rising until around 2050. For developers, operators and investors, this means that not every product currently labelled as senior housing addresses the same type of demand. Service-oriented housing formats, care properties, accessible existing apartments and communal housing models all serve different user needs.

Experts emphasise that while scarcity drives attractive long-term returns—particularly in the Netherlands where institutional pension funds are highly active—success requires a diversified strategy that spans standard residential, age-appropriate retrofits, and dedicated care properties.