Hur vil dagens seniorer bo? : En studie för att underlätta fastighetsbolagens marknadsföring av konceptboende för seniorer

Sammanfattning: How do today's seniors want to live? A study to facilitate real estate companies´ marketing of concept housing towards seniors. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the proportion of elderly in Sweden's population in comparison with the remaining age groups. This increase of elderly is due to the consistent expansion of welfare which has led to an improved health of the population, which has led to an increased life expectancy among the inhabitants. A rising average life expectancy of the population also entails changes in society, which can be seen in the housing market as housing mobility has been shown to decrease with age. It is not uncommon for elderly people to live in their single-family homes for several decades, even though the children moved out a long time ago. There are several reasons for this, including a lack of suitable housing adapted for the elderly, but many also lack knowledge of the different types of housing that is available in the senior housing market, which indicates a lack of marketing by the real estate companies. With a lack of information, there is also a risk of missing out, which leads to the real estate companies losing potential customers as the senior housing market is nevertheless seen as a market with great potential. The purpose of the study is thus to analyze how real estate companies, based on customers' preferences, should market their concept housings in the best way possible. The theoretical frame of reference consists of the main topics that are of importance for the results of the study. These topics are the elderly's preferences on their home, threats and opportunities for real estate companies in the senior housing market, the lack of marketing towards the elderly as an age group and whether activities and services affect the older generation's propensity to move. In the method section, the decision to use a qualitative method has been explicated together with the explanation for the choice of conducting semi-structured interviews. The interviewers' questions have been based on various topics such as the preferences of housing, the differences in current housing in comparison with the previous housing, the financial aspect and the cause of moving. The results of the study confirm the theory about lack of both knowledge and marketing where the conclusion is that Word-of-mouth is the most valuable source of marketing to reach the elderly. A further conclusion is that the elderly move mainly due to compelling circumstances such as illness, disability, feeling of loneliness and etcetera. These are examples of the so-called "push factors" and companies should rather focus on appealing attributes in their marketing, such as “pull factors”.