Since our homes are typically our most important personal investment and expenditure, it is only logical that they should also be an investment in our health and well-being.”

In a 2018 research report, Build Well to Live Well, the non-profit Global Wellness Institute states the way most homes have been built in the past century “is reinforcing lifestyles that make us sick, stressed, alienated and unhappy”.

Johnston, the report's co-author, writes that we're lumped with a built environment that favours driving over biking, sitting over walking, riding in lifts over using the stairs, texting over face-to-face conversations, and screen time over outdoor recreation.

“Even as people live longer, more are living lonely, unhealthy and unhappy lives,” she says.

This has given rise to the wellness lifestyle real estate industry, a market estimated to be worth US$134 billion at the end of 2017, and forecast to rise to US$197.4 billion by 2022.

Putting human health and well-being at the centre of housing and neighbourhood design is a trend that started in the early 2000s, building on the sustainability movement, which brought us green building standards such as BEAM and LEED a decade earlier.

Beyond environmental performance, wellness lifestyle real estate is defined as homes that are proactively designed and built to support the holistic health of their residents.

Apart from design features such as greenery, water features and yoga or meditation spaces, wellness properties pay attention to indoor air quality, light, acoustics and sleep, and provide opportunities for physical activity and social engagement. Johnston's report views this trend as “the new urbanism”, for which consumers are prepared to pay a premium.

According to Stephanie Anton, president of Luxury Portfolio International, wellness real estate could be just what high-end buyers are looking for.

In a newly released white paper, produced in collaboration with YouGov, Anton notes that, faced with economic or political instability, evolving tax structures and climate-related purchase considerations (and now the coronavirus pandemic), luxury homeowners are seeking to “tune out the noise of the world”.

“Affluent consumers are focusing on wellness as a way to build fulfilment and happiness in their life. After so much effort in striving, chasing and working towards success, they find they need ways to build up their own resilience,” she says.

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The joint study substantiates that today's high-net-worth individuals view their properties as sanctuaries – respites from the intensity and rapid pace of day-to-day living, Anton continues.

“A home is no longer just a showplace for architecture and elegance, but a retreat for getting re-centred and re-energised,” she says.

“The insights we gleaned about the growing desire to implement in-home wellness are extremely forcing. Luxuries now include everything from temperature and humidity-controlled cabinets to expanded fitness facilities, yoga studios, massage rooms and more.

“Now, at a time when people worldwide are practising in-home quarantine, wellness-focused features incorporated into our lives and in our homes are more important than ever.”

What does such a home look like?

In the case of Tri Vananda, a newly announced wellness residential community to be built in Phuket, Thailand, residents will have access to on-site health services such as physiotherapy, traditional Chinese medicine treatments, a cognitive health centre and facilities for health diagnostics aimed at treating residents and guests through tailored programmes.

A mindfulness centre on the lake will have an indoor hall and outdoor areas for meditation. Also situated on the lake are a spa with separate-sex thermal rooms, relaxation areas, a hammam (Turkish bath), private spa suites and a fitness centre with a 50-metre swimming pool, gym, sauna, juice bar and a pier for recreational water sports.

Taking care of the next generation, a wellness-led lifestyle club is dedicated to teens and preteens.

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The development will have 298 villas arranged on a hillside setting about 20 minutes from Phuket International Airport. Developed by Montara Hospitality Group (MHG), the Bangkok-based developer behind the luxury resort destination Trisara and Michelin-starred restaurant PRU, Tri Vananda is envisioned to become Asia's largest and most comprehensive wellness residential community. It is slated for completion in 2022.

Also in Thailand, Magnolia Quality Development Corporation (MQDC) is planning what it describes as “the world's first town that is purposefully designed for healthier living”.

On a 63.7-hectare site on the outskirts of Bangkok, The Forestias will have a sapling-planted 4.8-hectare central forest, anchoring a diverse and rich ecological system that will develop naturally in years ahead.

According to Thippaporn Ahriyavraromp, who chairs MQDC, this is the first time anywhere in the world that a forest of this size is being integrated into a city development, bringing nature back into an urban setting.

The development includes multiple residential components with villas and condominiums aimed at a diverse range of lifestyles and family sizes, as well as commercial space for offices, a sports complex, lifestyle activities, retail and food and drink outlets, as well as family edutainment facilities in a Family Life Centre.

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Adds project director Kittiphun Ouiyamaphun: “Everything at The Forestias is designed with a common purpose to promote the good health and happiness of residents to a level never before undertaken, including the layout of the public spaces, home layouts, choices of materials used inside and outside homes, the integration of 21st century life technologies, the management of natural light, noise, heat and airflows, as well as air and water quality.”

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Gamuda Land is continuing the phased development of Kundang Estates in the town of Kundang, an active, family-friendly lifestyle estate incorporating 5.7 hectares of interconnected parks, herb gardens, a reflexology path, lakeside jogging/biking paths and a children's adventure park.

Vermosa, Ayala Land's large-scale development in Cavite, in the Philippines, is another project designed to get residents out and about. Its three different lifestyle residential communities are linked by a vast biking and walkway system with green, open spaces, while the Vermosa Sports and Lifestyle Complex includes an Olympic-sized pool among its facilities.

This trend is catching on in Asia. The Global Wellness Institute says the global pipeline of wellness real estate includes projects in Australia, China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.

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In various locations around the region, Luxury Portfolio International's member companies currently have a number of private properties equipped with wellness amenities.

In Sydney, Australia, this includes 22 Fraser Street, Strathfield, a grand five-bedroom, four-bathroom residence complete with pool, spa, tennis court and sauna; and 3 Ocean Grove, Collaroy, a Hamptons-style beachfront masterpiece dedicated to the occupants' rest and relaxation with features including a spa and fitness/surf room.

BUYING GUIDE

What you can buy for US$11 million:

27 The Peninsula, Denarau Island, in Fiji, a newly constructed tropical estate on 0.4 hectares of land. Surrounded by crystalline turquoise blue water, the home offers 14,000 sq ft of living space with six luxurious en suite bedrooms, all with stunning, unobstructed views from sunrise to sunset.

What you can buy from 28 million baht (US$852,350):

The indicative starting price for fully furnished and equipped residential villas at Tri Vananda, in Phuket. Villas range from two-bedroom designs on a 4,700 sq ft-plot, up to four-bedroom residential villas on a 7,000 sq ft plot (for an indicative price of 75 million baht).

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