The chronic problems of the domestic senior housing market are clear. Uniform supply centered on public rentals, operators who are only introduced after completion, services that are out of touch with residents’ needs, and there are virtually no alternatives for middle-class seniors to choose from. However, the situation has recently changed. Companies that participate in planning spaces from the design stage and provide customized services with operational know-how accumulated over 20 years have emerged.
“Senior housing is not just a space for retirement. We design for the entire life.”
This one word from Lee Sang-mu (56), CEO of SLP, contains an approach that is on a different level from that of existing operators.
Launched in 2021 through the merger of Shinyoung Asset Management and Socio Living, SLP is building a housing platform that covers the entire life cycle, from young co-living to senior welfare housing, armed with data accumulated from operating over 50,000 households. It is evolving from a simple space operator to a platform that ‘designs life.’
'Life Cycle Housing' Strategy Created with Data from 50,000 Households
SLP's weapon is the operational data accumulated over 20 years. This is big data on resident behavior patterns, age-based service preferences, and regional characteristics accumulated from over 50,000 households nationwide.
“We view a particular home as a ‘continuum in the flow of life’ rather than a point in time that is disconnected,” he said. “It is a high-cost, high-value structure, but existing operating data can bring about significant cost savings.”
“We are viewing the young people’s co-living, newlyweds’ public-supported private rental housing, and even senior welfare housing and nursing homes as one connected cycle.” Looking at the fact that the government recently announced a new type of long-term private rental housing system that includes silver stays, this life-cycle approach is being supported by policy.
Based on this data, SLP is manualizing the resident database, content by complex characteristics, and age-specific services. The key is to create a structure that increases the ‘lifetime value (LTV) of residents.’
Entering the senior housing market is also in this context. In addition to structural changes such as the entry into a super-aging society, the retirement of the baby boomer generation, and the increase in single-person elderly households, the revision of the enforcement ordinance of the Elderly Welfare Act eased the conditions for consignment operation, which was an opportunity factor. SLP registered the brand 'Noble Life Care' and started the Wiryesymphonia as its first project.
From design to operation, the ‘producer-type’ business model
“We are closer to producers who participate from the design stage, plan spaces that take into account consumer needs and sustainable operation, create content, and even suggest operating methods.”
While existing operators participate in bidding after construction is completed, SLP participates from the design stage. CEO Lee Sang-moo said, “In the past, we have experienced trial and error while moving around 50 apartments with over 2,000 households in Seoul for over 48 months,” and “We are not interested in the opportunity to participate in the operation bidding after construction is completed.”
The representative examples are the Wiryesy Symphonia and Daegu Sincheon-dong Senior Town projects. They are not simply residential spaces, but are implemented as integrated living package models that include programs based on resident participation, care services in partnership with external professional organizations, and cultural content linked to the region. If necessary, they also include complex developments such as nursing hospitals and care centers.
Here, the role of SL POP-UP is important. This is because the content planning capabilities accumulated through new technology PoC and cultural events at SL POP-UP, which serves as SLP's 'content laboratory', are connected to senior housing.
Partnership is also a differentiating point. We approach it as a ‘joint planner’ concept rather than a simple subcontractor.
“A residential complex with 50,000 households, offices, and hotels is a group of customers for startups and service companies,” explained CEO Lee Sang-moo. In fact, the fact that more than 70% of SLP customers are non-Shinyoung affiliates is also a result of this ecosystem strategy.
The revenue model is diversified into consulting, PM, MRO, responsible leasing, platform, service, investment, etc. Currently, the stable revenue of 'PM + operation' is the largest. However, as the new BM such as rental housing, senior welfare housing, and hotel operation are on track through investment and development of NPL assets promoted since last year, even greater revenue is expected.
Senior Housing Spreads Nationwide, Why We’re Investing
Currently, SLP is promoting senior welfare housing projects in various parts of the country, including Daegu Sincheon-dong, Yangsan Mulgeum, Osan Segyo, and Wonju Dange-dong. It is not a simple consignment operation, but a proactive participation method from regional demand analysis to community content planning, space composition, and investment structure proposal.
It is noteworthy that SLP has recently stepped forward as an equity investor. CEO Lee Sang-moo explained the background to its direct investment in NPL business sites and residential accommodations as follows.
“We thought we couldn’t just remain as a ‘company that operates spaces built by others.’ The burden of labor costs would increase, and we realized that the cutthroat competition of new entrants would make it impossible to completely protect the market. In the end, we judged that by investing in the total service package that we have provided to our clients for a long time, we could increase the completeness of our products and operations, and generate a lot of contribution profits. In particular, we were convinced that the success rate for co-living and senior housing would be higher if the operational perspective was reflected from the planning stage.”
The investment criteria are strict. Deals are selected conservatively by comprehensively assessing the possibility of direct operation, reviewing regional demand, and the possibility of collaboration with partners such as unmanned operation. In the future, we are considering a strategy of securing capital gains through direct exits, as well as including the portfolio in REITs and listing them.
“In a situation where land prices in the metropolitan area are high, there is a limit to competitive rental housing. We want to secure undervalued NPL properties in areas with high demand,” is SLP’s strategy.
The future of the company that CEO Lee Sang-moo envisions is clear. It is not a simple space operator, but a residential platform that designs and cares for people’s lives together. He said, “I want to be reborn as a My Data business operator in the residential sector by accumulating residential data,” and “I interpret the word ‘housing’ as ‘a vessel that holds life.’”
“In the mid- to long-term, our goal is to become a platform operator that integrates design with optimal content, services, spaces, and their operation scenarios based on massive residential data.”
Furthermore, he expressed his ambition to create a standard for the Korean senior housing model, build a solution that overseas builders would also covet, and become an 'icon of lifestyle-related proptech companies.'
The solution presented by SLP in the face of the era's challenge of a super-aging society is clear. It is to design a residential service that covers the entire lifespan based on the data and experience accumulated over 20 years. The industry's attention is focused on what kind of results this experiment will produce.
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