14 Jun Trade Me chases grey dollar with retirement villages section
Sarah McDonald | Friday June 12 2009 – 01:55pm
Trade Me has launched a dedicated section devoted to selling retirement village properties.
More than 100 villages have already signed up to the service.
As of today, the launch date, there are 150 properties being advertised.
Trade Me Property, which launched four years ago, is New Zealand’s most popular real estate website, receiving over 70% of all domestic traffic to the real estate category.
Trade Me head of property Brendon Skipper says with the aging of New Zealand’s population, more people are researching and selecting retirement units, so it’s a logical move to extend into this market.
“We’re aiming to provide a total view of all New Zealand retirement units for sale in one place.
“The new service allows retirees, family and friends to all participate in the search and shows the depth and breadth of the market.’’
It costs $199 to list a retirement village property, with no success fee charged if it is sold.
Typically, elderly people buy their own unit or apartment in a retirement village.
When they die, the village arranges for the unit to be sold and a fixed amount (agreed at the start) is paid back to the deceased person’s estate.
If the village can sell the unit for more than they were expecting, they keep the capital gain.
Trade Me, which is owned by Fairfax, has over 2.2 million members. 275,000+ of these members are aged 55+ and use the site on a regular basis.
http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/trade-me-chases-grey-dollar-with-retirement-villages-section-103668?headsup=1