Quality of life key as care home demand outstrips supply

Eagle Real Estate plans to turn its first German acquisition into senior housing with on-site care as it looks for more properties to redevelop in a market where demand for care accommodation outstrips supply.

Speaking to Real Asset INSIGHT at EXPO Real 2026, Aart de Jong, co-founder and managing partner of Eagle Real Estate, said the Dutch developer would draw on its experience in the Netherlands to put residents’ quality of life at the centre of the project in Essen.

“What we discovered is that the Dutch market is more developed than the German market,” he said, referring to the emphasis Dutch facilities place on residents’ wellbeing.

Eagle plans to renovate the existing building at Bürgerpark with project partner Vastbouw to create 156 senior living units. De Jong said Eagle would lease part of the building to a care provider and let the apartments directly to residents, who could receive care from that provider.

“Of course, we do the real estate and we work closely together with care companies that have the same values,” he said.

On the German market, De Jong added that “there’s also a lack of housing there for facilities, so we’re looking for more”.

He expects robots to take on routine tasks such as giving residents medication and sees Eagle’s role as creating places where residents can build relationships. He believes connections between people “will be more and more important than giving someone the pill or medicine”.