Senior Housing Italy versus The Netherlands

Italy is older than the Netherlands. But still lives remarkably traditionally.

This is the third article in TEN's series Italy versus the Netherlands, comparing both housing markets across four parts: the housing market in general, student housing, senior housing and co-living. If there is one country the Netherlands should look at for senior housing, it is Italy. Not because Italy has solved the problem, but precisely because the problem is further advanced there.

The figures first. On 1 January 2025, Italy counted around 14,5 million people aged 65 and over, almost 25% of the population. The Netherlands counts around 3,83 million over-65s at the start of 2026, more than a fifth of the population. And Italy is still ageing: according to ISTAT, around 34,9% of the Italian population could be over 65 by 2050, while the share of over-80s could rise from around 7,6% to 14,1%. One in three Italians a senior. That is not a niche market; that will soon be the housing market.

Little Institutional Care Capacity

Around 28,4% of Italian over-65s are considered not self-sufficient, almost 4 million people. Yet Italy has relatively little institutional elderly care. According to OECD figures, Italy has around 21 long-term care beds per 1.000 over-65s, against an OECD average of around 41. The Netherlands has a far more developed formal care system and, in addition, 8,3 formal long-term care workers per 100 over-65s, well above the OECD average of five.

The traditional Italian solution was long the family: parents stay at home and children, relatives or a badante, a live-in carer, provide support. That model is under pressure. Families are getting smaller, children live further away, more women work and Italy is ageing faster than its working population can keep up with.

The Rise of Silver Housing

This is where it becomes interesting for the Netherlands. Italy is currently discovering a category that has existed in Northern Europe for some time: senior living for independent, active older people. Not a nursing home and not a care institution, but apartments combined with a restaurant, fitness, social amenities, services, domestic help and care when it becomes necessary.

Reuters described in 2026 how such silver-housing concepts are emerging in Milan and Rome, among other cities. Monthly costs at existing commercial concepts mostly range between € 1.500 and € 4.000. That is still a premium segment, but a new market is taking shape.

The Netherlands Is Further Ahead on Policy

The Netherlands has a far more concrete programme, with an ambition of 290.000 suitable homes for older people. The Netherlands Court of Audit concluded in 2025, however, that insight into the existing stock and construction progress is insufficient, and that it is unlikely the programme is on track. Central government is making € 388 million available between 2022 and 2027 for affordable clustered and care-ready rental homes.

The Netherlands is therefore further ahead on policy. But Italy confronts us with a different question: what do we do with the large group of wealthy seniors who do not want a care home at all?

The Wealth Sits in the Home

Both countries know this problem. Many older people own a home they have lived in for decades. The mortgage is largely or fully paid off, the home is spacious and the neighbourhood familiar. Why would they move to a smaller apartment that is barely cheaper and offers less quality?

That is exactly why senior housing is not just a care question. It is a product question.

The Italian Advantage: Hospitality

Hospitality runs culturally deep in the Italian real-estate and hotel market. When senior living is combined with food and beverage, wellness, services, communal spaces and attractive architecture, a product emerges that does not feel like elderly care. That is exactly where the senior market needs to go. The message is not that you must live smaller, but that you can live better.

Who Does It Better?

The Netherlands clearly wins on public organisation, care infrastructure, social housing, policy targets and formal support. Italy is interesting for the rapid rise of private senior-living concepts that bring housing, hospitality and services together in one product. The Netherlands has the better system, but Italy can teach us something about the product.

And Italy can learn from the Netherlands in turn. The problem with the Italian model is affordability: the new silver-housing market currently targets mainly wealthy seniors. The Netherlands is far better at combining social housing, mid-market rental, care funding and public amenities. The ideal senior market may lie somewhere between the two models: Dutch accessibility, Italian hospitality.

The Real Housing-Market Gain

When a senior moves from a home of 140 m² to an attractive apartment of 80 or 100 m², the result is not one housing solution but a chain of moves. A family moves into that home, a starter moves into the family's home and perhaps someone else moves after that.

Senior housing should therefore not only be measured in the number of senior homes realised, but also in the number of moves it sets in motion. Italy will soon simply have no other choice. The Netherlands still has time. Let us make sure we use it.

This is the third article in the TEN series Italy versus the Netherlands. The fourth and final part follows shortly and covers co-living. The Experience Net Living Experience Student Experience #classicexperience