The built environment is the next frontier and the most significant future opportunity for wellness. One’s home accounts for 85% of health outcomes, meaning where and how we live.
The Global Wellness Institute (GWI), considered the leading global research and educational resource for the wellness industry, reports that nearly 15% of global GDP is spent on construction annually.
Because of this and the industry’s impact on the broader economy, wellness real estate is one of the 11 sectors the GWI tracks annually.
Bluntly, it’s on fire.
Over the past few years, wellness real estate has been the fastest-growing sector, increasing by 19.5% last year and projected to continue growing at 15.2% annually from 2024 to 2029. Recently released GWI data estimates that the wellness real estate sector is now valued at $548 billion globally.
Developers, homebuilders, and investors increasingly see the impact an intentional focus on wellness has on their business, and with good reason. In the latest America at Home Study, 60% of consumers cited “improves my health and wellness” as the No. 1 reason they desire certain features and technologies in their homes. That’s up 17% from the same survey just two years ago—a significant increase in the value consumers place on wellness.
The Impact of Wellness Real Estate
Until now, “wellness” as something to be planned and designed for has been a nebulous, squishy idea for builders and developers. With the GWI’s publication this summer of Build Well to Live Well: Case Studies, a resource now exists to help clear the fog.
This first case study volume focuses on projects in the United States and the United Kingdom. The GWI research team selected projects that were built and in operation, for which they had direct access to the developer/owner, and that they could visit in person. The projects represent diverse approaches to certification, regional contexts, scales/asset classes, target demographics, and price points. The result is a tangible, actionable resource available for free download: Build Well to Live Well: Case Studies.
Each case study includes:
- A summary overview (type of project, location, size, price points, year of completion, developer/owner, certifications achieved, web links, etc.)
- A main narrative, organized by each project’s distinctive approach to wellness, a description of the intentions and target market, the thinking behind the design process, and the specific steps taken to design and operationalize features that support wellness for people.
- Metrics and results for each project that has documented health/wellness or financial/business impacts.
- A section on how each project specifically addressed GWI’s six dimensions of wellness real estate: physical, mental and spiritual; social; civic and community; environmental; and economic and financial.
Key Takeaways
Wellness real estate is quickly transforming from a niche market to mainstream.
- From physical wellness > to multidimensional wellness
- From luxury homes > to diverse price point and demographics, “democratizing wellness”
- From small-scale passion projects > to large-scale master-planned communities, urban districts, and portfolio-wide adoption
- From planet health > to human health
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to wellness real estate.
- The most effective wellness real estate projects use intentional, thoughtful, and situational design and operations that consider occupants’ unique wellness needs.
- Wellness certifications are a useful tool but are not a requirement for wellness real estate projects.
Wellness real estate projects are embracing the multidimensional aspects of human health and well-being.
- Healthy indoor air, thermal comfort, opportunities for physical activity, and biophilic elements are becoming a given in wellness real estate projects.
- Green building and healthy building are increasingly overlapping and becoming inseparable.
- Mental wellness is not just about designing a meditation space—it means reducing daily frictions and easing the mental burdens of occupants.
- Community is an essential dimension of wellness, and the importance of social connections is recognized in both the design and programming.
- Economic and financial wellness is no longer an afterthought, and the increasing lack of attainable housing impacts more than just the purchase price, and includes ongoing operating costs.
Wellness real estate projects deliver both business and wellness benefits.
- Wellness real estate projects are performing strongly from a business perspective, with an average sales price premium of 10%-25% for residential real estate (GWI) and a 4.4%-7.7% per-square-foot rental premium for commercial buildings (MIT). However, price premiums are not the only motivator—these projects also focus on human health and well-being outcomes.
Per capita spending on wellness in North America was $6,029 in 2024, growing by 7.9% annually from 2019 to 2024 (GWI data).
In addition to increased awareness of the built environment’s impact on health, the underlying forces driving the growth of wellness include population aging, the rise of chronic disease, the unsustainable costs of the sick-care model, widespread mental unwellness, and a growing awareness of healthy lifestyles and wellness modalities.
The goal of researching and publishing this collection of projects is to inspire builders, developers, and investors to build more diverse, creative, and inclusive wellness real estate projects in the future.
English (US) · 