Veteran NZ retirement village operator LifeCare is responding to strong demand for their six star village in the centre of London by escalating prices by 60% in 10 months.

Last October we reported that they are building a 109 apartment plus 30 bed aged care facility opposite Battersea Park with village units are priced from $675K to $3.4M. This week they have opened their demonstration suite with “prices for the remaining apartments ranging from $1.1M to $5.54M”.

NZ’s LifeCare owner is Cliff Cook. His LifeCare group has 58% of the venture while American billionaire Sam Zell has 33%. The land and planning costs in central London doesn’t come cheap – their investment before construction past the $100M mark.

Cook points out that the population within a 5 km radius of the site is the wealthiest in the UK and is equal in number to the whole of New Zealand.