Aimed to create its own Blue Zone with smart toilets, apartments equipped with biofiltration systems to improve indoor air quality, and offering residents everything from “clean cooking” to comprehensive health services. Get ready for your planned home. It’s all part of what’s known as real estate wellness, which is the fastest growing part of the $5.6 trillion global wellness economy, according to a new report from the research-based nonprofit Global Wellness Institute (GWI). It is said to be a growing market.
While other elements of the longevity race revolve around more familiar trends, such as nutrition, spa treatments, and high-end fitness programs, real estate wellness is about actively designing, supporting, and supporting overall health. Refers to residential and commercial buildings that are constructed and operated. of their inhabitants.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to consider how our health is shaped by our built environment,” said the GWI report, which published new findings on Tuesday. “Wellness real estate will continue to be a winner in this transformation.” Held in conjunction with the Wellness Real Estate & Community Symposium, a day-long industry summit in New York City.
“In the past, wellness real estate was often associated with resort properties and retirement communities with plenty of amenities, but now wellness real estate has expanded to include stronger air filtration, better soundproofing, and facilities for outdoor exercise. We look at wellness real estate from a more holistic perspective, incorporating a variety of features: rich community, social space, and access to nature,” continue the report’s authors, Katherine Johnston and Ophelia Yong. . “Around the world, there is a growing demand for buildings, homes and communities that help people live healthier lifestyles and protect their health, creating huge potential for the wellness real estate sector.”
The report predicts that the sector will “grow 15.8% annually from 2023 to 2028, at which point it will approach the $1 trillion level (2028 forecast is $912.6 billion).”
According to GWI, real estate wellness is just one of 11 sectors that make up the wellness economy, which also includes personal care and beauty sectors (up to $1.89 trillion). Wellness tourism. spring; spa; mental health; physical activity; healthy eating, nutrition, weight loss. Public health, prevention, and personalized medicine. and traditional and complementary medicine. From $225.2 billion in 2019 to $438.2 billion in 2023, the annual growth rate reached 18.1%. This is evidenced by the fact that the average annual growth rate for overall construction is 5.1%.
The US is the largest real estate wellness market accounting for 41% of the global total, followed by China, the UK, Australia and France.
What does real estate wellness look like?
Conscious wellness in real estate appears to be as fundamental as incorporating healthy aspects into the way structures are sourced, constructed, and designed.
“What’s good for people is good for business,” Rachel Hodgdon, president and CEO of the International Water Well Construction Association, said at Tuesday’s symposium. The institute is a third-party rating system that issues a building’s WELL certification by considering factors such as air, water, light, thermal comfort, sound, and materials, resulting in improved employee mental health and In addition to improving overall workplace satisfaction, Hodgdon said companies’ annual profits increased significantly and the S&P 500 index rose.
In its new report, GWI notes that interest in such wellness certifications has grown rapidly in recent years, with the total number of wellness-certified building projects expected to increase by more than 40 times from 2017 to 2023. It was revealed that more than 3,300 projects were certified at the time. WELL and Fitwel are other major third-party rating systems around the world. More than 55% of these certifications occur in the United States, with the majority of certifications targeting office/commercial, hospitality, and retail facilities.
Healthy indoor air quality is also becoming an important factor, a welcome change, said Joseph Allen, associate professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and director of the Harvard Healthy Buildings Program. What is wellness?
“We’ve been in the sick building era for 40 years,” Allen said at Tuesday’s symposium. “We’ve never been as healthy as our North Star in building operations and maintenance…but things are changing, and they’re changing very quickly.” The main reason for this is “building and indoor air quality. “New technology that can pick up the pulse of the world,” he said, referring to low-cost air quality sensors that are changing the game, with individuals using them to put pressure on companies. The coronavirus has brought awareness to the importance of indoor air quality. ”
On the more glamorous end, real estate wellness consists of luxury health-oriented technology. As Dr. Helen explained, we measure real-time wellness by equipping our homes with smart versions of everything, from refrigerators and stoves to beds and toilets, for example. Messier of Fountain Life focuses on technology for prevention.
Other wellness trends in real estate noted in the report include:
- Pro-social design features to encourage spontaneous social interaction and combat loneliness and isolation.
- Workspaces with wellness design and features will become healthier and encourage people to return to the office after years of working remotely.
- Luxury properties with wellness features and healthy design have reached the level of “almost ubiquitous.”
Finally, the demand for nutrition and mind-body pavilions and “retreat-style” wellness living for seniors, whether for young professionals or families, such as the new ultra-luxury SHA Residences in Mexico, Spain, and the Emirates. is increasing. , as well as the Mother residence. There, wellness is infused in the design as well as programs such as breathwork sessions, beekeeping workshops, guided meditations, and Pilates reformers. And it’s “a far cry from shuffleboard,” Mather President and CEO Mary Leary pointed out at Tuesday’s symposium.
