Building a Healthier Future: The Rise of Wellness Real Estate

Imagine living in a home or community designed not just for shelter, but to boost your physical health, mental well-being, and social connections. This is the promise of wellness real estate, a fast-growing sector that’s reshaping how we live, work, and thrive. According to the Global Wellness Institute’s (GWI) June 2025 report, Build Well to Live Well: The Future, this industry is booming, with a market size of $548.4 billion in 2024, projected to soar to $1,114.0 billion by 2029. Here’s why wellness real estate is the next big thing and how it’s transforming our world.

Wellness real estate isn’t just about nice gyms or spa-like amenities (although they are important). It’s about creating built environments—homes, offices, neighborhoods—that proactively support holistic health for residents, visitors, and communities. The GWI defines it as spaces designed to enhance physical, mental, social, environmental, economic, and civic wellness. Think homes with natural light and good ventilation, neighborhoods with walkable streets and green spaces, or communities that foster connection and affordability.

Our built environments shape up to 80-90% of our health outcomes, from chronic diseases to mental well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted this, showing how poor ventilation or lack of access to nature can harm health. Meanwhile, unhealthy urban designs—think car-centric suburbs or food deserts—fuel sedentary lifestyles, stress, and isolation. With housing eating up 20% of global consumer spending ($12 trillion in 2024) and construction accounting for 15% of global GDP ($16.5 trillion), it’s clear that what we build should also invest in our well-being.

The wellness real estate market is growing at a staggering 19.5% annually (2019-2024), outpacing the 5.5% growth of traditional construction. It now represents 3.3% of global construction output and is expanding beyond luxury homes into affordable housing, senior living, and student residences. From North America to Asia and Latin America, developers are embracing wellness, driven by consumer demand and the rise of green certifications like WELL and Fitwel. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing is also fueling this growth, aligning profit with purpose.

The GWI outlines six key dimensions that define wellness real estate:

1. Physical Wellness: Encourages movement, healthy eating, and safety with features like accessible stairways, bike paths, or non-toxic building materials.

2. Mental & Spiritual Wellness: Provides access to nature, quiet spaces for rest, and designs that inspire awe or reduce stress.

3. Social Wellness: Fosters connection through shared spaces, diverse housing, and tech-enabled community platforms.

4. Environmental Wellness: Prioritizes sustainability with energy-efficient designs, climate resilience, and biodiversity.

5. Economic & Financial Wellness: Supports affordability, access to jobs, and reduced living costs like transit expenses.

6. Civic & Community Wellness: Promotes inclusion, local culture, and resident engagement in community governance.

The report offers six principles to guide developers:

– Scalability: Wellness can be integrated into any project, from a single home to an entire city.

– Intentionality: Health-focused design starts at the planning stage.

– Holistic Approach: Projects should optimize wellness across multiple dimensions.

– Proactive Design: Spaces should encourage healthy behaviors, not just avoid harm.

– Infrastructure and Operations: Wellness must be built into the core design and sustained through programming.

– Community Focus: Prioritize collective well-being alongside individual needs.

Wellness real estate isn’t just good for health—it’s great for the bottom line. Residential properties can command 10-25% price premiums, while commercial spaces see 4.4-7.7% higher rents. Developers benefit from faster sales, longer leases, and higher tenant satisfaction. In workplaces, wellness features boost employee productivity, reduce sick days, and improve retention. The long-term value lies in doing the right thing for occupants, aligning with consumer demand for healthier spaces.

The health benefits are undeniable. Wellness real estate projects have been linked to:

– Increased physical activity and better sleep.

– Lower rates of chronic diseases and hospital admissions.

– Reduced asthma symptoms and workplace sick days.

– Stronger community connections and lower crime rates.

– Improved mental health and cognitive function through nature and thoughtful design.

The report highlights exciting opportunities for wellness real estate to address global challenges:

– Climate Resilience: Designing for extreme weather and sustainability, like net-zero buildings.

– Affordable Housing: Creating healthy homes for all income levels, not just the wealthy.

– Urban Regeneration: Revitalizing cities with wellness-focused communities.

– Aging Well: Building senior living spaces that promote health spans.

– Co-Living Models: Catering to digital nomads and combating loneliness through shared living.

– Food Environments: Integrating urban farms and “agrihoods” for access to fresh food.

– Nature and Neuro-architecture: Using biophilic design and sensory-focused spaces to enhance well-being.

Wellness real estate draws from movements like intentional communities (e.g., ecovillages), planned cities, New Urbanism, and green building. These efforts, from 19th-century garden cities to modern cohousing, show a timeless human desire to create healthier, happier places to live.

As wellness real estate moves from niche to mainstream, it’s poised to address pressing issues like housing shortages, climate risks, and social disconnection. The GWI’s report, part of a two-part series with forthcoming case studies, offers a flexible framework for stakeholders—developers, architects, policymakers—to build intentionally and creatively. For more insights, check out GWI’s resources.

By prioritizing wellness in our built environments, we’re not just constructing buildings—we’re building a healthier, more connected, and sustainable future for all.

For more details, get the full report here.