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Key trends shaping care homes in 2025
An ageing population is driving a demand for care homes in the UK. There are nearly 17,000 care homes and of these, 11,715 care homes are for people aged 65+. Care home trends show the demand is outstripping supply.
There are currently 7,338 care home providers in the UK and a total of 529,549 registered beds. Care homes rely heavily on their workforce to care for their residents. The care home workforce stands at 787,992, making it one of the biggest employment sectors in Britain.
Care models are changing with a shift toward larger, luxury care homes offering older people who can afford it a very comfortable lifestyle.
There are currently 2,116 care home groups, with the larger groups, such as Barchester Healthcare, HC-One and Care UK dominating the market.
1. Luxury care homes
There seems to be a growing trend for high-end care homes for older people offering services and amenities very similar to luxury hotels.
The Loveday care home group was founded by hotelier Laurence Geller in 2016. He now has four care homes in extremely affluent areas in the capital.
Loveday care homes ask people to become members of what is an exclusive club, with its Belgravia care home costing from £5,850 a week. Facilities include a cocktail lounge, an art studio and a state of the art gym. In the Belgravia care home, there are 44 luxurious suites, each costing £1 million to build.
Signature care home in Highgate, which cost £50 million to build is similarly high-end and is situated on Bishops Avenue in North London, also known as ‘Billionaires Row’. Notable former owners of houses on this street include the Sultan of Brunei and Justin Bieber.
These kind of care homes are only for the lucky few but the phrase ‘luxury care homes’ does seem to be an attractive buzzword for care seekers. On carehome.co.uk, over two-thirds of care homes identify as ‘luxury care homes’, offering facilities such as pool, spa, cinema and health club.
It is not surprising we are seeing a proliferation of ‘luxury care homes’ as people aged 65+ control 51% of the UK’s wealth, up from 42% in 2008, according to the Resolution Foundation. This is due to property wealth being at an all-time high.
2. Larger care homes
In recent years, there has been a definite shift away from the model of a care home in a traditional adapted house run by small independent care home providers.
Data from carehome.co.uk which lists all registered care homes in the UK shows currently there is an average of 32 residents per care home.
There are 16,457 registered care homes in the UK and 529,549 registered beds.
There is now a real trend for building large purpose-built care homes, which are able to accommodate 60-80 residents. This is partly because most care homes are in the private sector and you need a certain size care home to justify the huge investment needed to build it.
From 1 January 2024 to 1 January 2025, there were 381 new care homes. These new care homes have an average of 39 residents per care home showing a real shift towards new, larger care homes.
Business property advisor, Christie & Co. also saw large care homes become more desirable for buyers in 2024. Larger care homes with over 40 beds made up 58% of sales compared to 52% in 2023.
3. Wet rooms
A rising number of care homes are installing wet rooms due to them being safer and more accessible for people who have limited mobility.
Wet rooms are also easier to clean and the flooring can be slip-resistant. They also enable care home residents to stay independent for longer and keep their dignity intact.
4. AI in care homes
We are set to see care homes incorporating AI more and more into the care they provide.
Wearable devices are already being used in care homes to monitor health such as blood pressure and blood sugar levels and to keep residents safe. They are also being used to set medication reminders and record when and what medication has been taken which helps to stop missing doses or overmedicating.
Motion detectors are also being used to detect when a person falls so care home staff are alerted quickly.
Some care homes are also using the PainChek app which can recognise when non-verbal residents are in pain but are unable to express it.
Remote monitoring saves staff having to check residents every two hours so residents can sleep undisturbed.
Another feature in some homes is automatic lighting so the light will come on in the bathroom when the resident goes in there.
It is the more luxury high-end care homes that are leading the way with acquiring this technology as they are the ones who can afford to invest in it. But as it comes down in price, we are likely to see it become more widespread.
5. Demand for care home beds outstripping supply
Property experts Savills predicts that the UK will need an extra 144,000 care home beds over the next 10 years to keep pace with population growth.
Since 2020, around half of all new care homes have been concentrated in London and in the south and east of England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have seen fairly limited investment.
This investment in the south of England reflects the high number of self-funders able to afford private residential care.
Currently carehome.co.uk has 51 new care homes on its site that are opening soon. Forty-eight of these homes are in England and three are in Scotland.
This raises the question of what will happen in areas where there are a high number of local-authority funded residents and a paucity of care homes.
6. People with learning disabilities living longer
People with learning disabilities are living longer so there is a growing need for specialised care homes that can care for them as they age. These need to be staffed and designed for people with learning disabilities so they can get the right support.
People with learning disabilities have a higher risk of developing dementia, which will make their care needs even more complex.
7. Local authorities’ finances under pressure
As council budgets have become more and more stretched, they are either turning to home care to pick up the slack or they are putting limits on how much they can pay towards residential and nursing care.
This is leading to more families contributing to care costs and paying top up fees so their family member can go to a care home of their choice.
Accessing publicly funded care has become worse over the past seven years, according to The Nuffield Trust, with thousands waiting for care needs assessments. This has led to people stuck in hospital waiting for care packages to kick in.
Plans to address social care funding still haven’t materialised. The Labour government has appointed Baroness Casey to lead an independent commission to reform the social care sector in England. But with a final report scheduled for 2028 to make long-term recommendations on models of care and funding, the King’s Fund said the government ‘needs to accelerate the timing’.