Senior housing need universal but differences call for respect

Octopus Real Estate, the largest investor in Care Homes and Senior Living in the UK, is looking at expanding in Europe across all living sectors.

“Each country in Europe has a different level of maturity in the market,” said Octopus senior investment manager Mathilde Guittard. “Everybody acknowledges the demographics and the fundamentals are here, it’s just about finding the right partners and finding the right opportunities,” she said.

Octopus is still making value-add returns in the UK which Guittard said is a difficult challenge at present. The company will be looking at each European country on a case-by-case basis.

“I think there are some transferable skills between countries,” said Guittard. “However, you need to respect cultural differences and you need to adapt to the market. We want to be customer centric so we want to listen.”

“What we want to bring is the ethics that we have at Octopus. Focusing on the green aspects and social aspects, that’s very important for us,” Guittard explained.