Care Market Insight 2025: South West England
In this article, Simon Harvey (Senior Director – Care at Christie & Co) provides an overview of the South West care market and shares some of the insights from our ‘South West Healthcare Market Insight 2025’ report.
Business. Built around You.
Your expert business property advisers
Image: Golden fields on the edge of Exmoor by Craig Cameron for Unsplash
We’re seeing care businesses across the South West continue to flourish, supported by the region's diverse geography and close-knit rural, coastal, and town communities. Small and medium-sized care groups tailor their services to local needs and varying financial capabilities, forming sustainable models aligned with local demand.
The region remains desirable for a variety of buyers of elderly care homes, with good levels of activity in the market, especially from new market entrants. Investor demand has surged, with completions up 90% region-wide over the past year. However, much like the rest of the UK, there remains an acute shortage of available care homes in the market to satisfy this buyer demand.
As recently reported in our ‘South West Healthcare Market Insight 2025’, fit-for-purpose elderly beds are also in short supply. Between 2021 and 2025, West Dorset maintained care home numbers while adding 439 beds (86% with en suites and 43% with wetrooms). Cornwall saw a net bed gain of just 66 beds, with very low wetroom provision of just 9% across the county. Somerset lost more beds than it gained, though over 80% of bed supply has en suite provision. Devon added over 1,000 beds but still lags in wetroom provision (18%).
Despite planned developments, long-term demand is expected to far exceed supply, with Cornwall facing a projected shortfall of 5,631 beds by 2035, Devon facing 10,616, Somerset 5,501, and West Dorset 1,308. Generally, occupancy levels remain strong across the region.
The region's remote geography has historically deterred national developers. However, strong demand and diminishing fit-for-purpose stock present a compelling opportunity as regional and corporate operators can gain early mover advantage by building fit-for-purpose homes or retrofitting existing ones to meet modern standards. Strategic investment now will address urgent shortfalls while positioning operators for long-term success in a rapidly evolving market.
To read our ‘South West Healthcare Market Insight 2025’ report, click here.