McCarthy Stone, the UK’s biggest retirement home builder, saw its profits jump five-fold as it sold more houses at higher prices.

The Bournemouth-based group said pre-tax profits leapt to £63.2 million in the year to the end of August as it benefited from the recovery in the housing market.

The group, which controls almost three quarters of the country’s owner-occupied retirement homes, said completions rose 10% to 1,677 and average selling prices lifted 16% to £214,000.

In September the group accelerated last year’s £1.5 billion four-year investment plan, to £2 billion until 2018, as it plans to build 12,000 new homes across more than 300 different locations.

It said the number of people aged over 85 is poised to more than double by 2030, and the number of over-65s is expected to rise by 51%.
It added that a quarter of those over 60 are interested in retirement living, yet only 1% of older owner-occupiers currently live in specialist retirement housing.