Interesting you say this... Arvida, who has a large care operation, must have been part of the 10% that said yes... as was Oceania who I believe repeated a similar thing in their prospectus. As you also know, Arvida and Oceania account for thousands of care beds.
It is not so much a popular belief, but rather a fact: Page 9 of the recently released Arvida annual report:
"The recently announced settlement of equal pay negotiations for caregivers was welcomed. This is a tangible recognition of the important contribution caregivers make to the wellbeing of residents. We expect the increase in pay will improve recruitment and retention of caregivers as well as enhance continuity of care. This settlement agreement is expected to be ratified in June, with an effective commencement date of 1 July 2017. Our expectation is that the increased wage cost will be offset by an increase in funding from government and private sources."
Benefits of retention (which itself has a cost attached - ie the cost of finding new people, training etc) aside, I suppose, it depends on how the beds are funded, if they are like Oceania and Arvida, and increasing moving towards an ORA being placed over the bed, then its no wonder shareholders in those companies are likely not fazed by rising wages (also interesting how they said government first - as if they will provide most of the required 'top up').
As you'll also see in Arvida's annual report, although I admit it is a bit hard to tell which elements of income and expenses are care, and which elements aren't, Arvida's care offering side of the business, which makes up 74% of the portfolio (page 16, annual report) seems to be doing pretty ok (not as good as the property development side ['turbo charged side'] of the business of course, but still quite ok - ie likely profitable).
Its no wonder why Arvida's share price is near all time highs! :t_up:;)
It would be great if you could provide a source document of some kind for the recent survey you have mentioned
Sorry for turning this into an Arvida thread, just thought I'd try put some facts out there, and here's another one: having a care centre is not widely regarded as a risk, rather the complete opposite due to stability of government funding, among other reasons (well at least forsyth barr say this)