Huge profits and low taxes. Care home real estate business put in the spotlight by CICTAR

CICTAR’s latest report was launched on June 29th and was developed in partnership with the European federation of Public Service Unions, EPSU and colleagues from Belgian and Dutch unions. The report reveals the extraordinary level of profits being made by a Belgian property company, through its increasing specialization in care home property ownership.

The company in question, Cofinimmo, owns care homes across Europe and the report finds that, in recent years, the company’s operating profit margin on healthcare properties, primarily care homes, was over 80%.

This profit is largely the result of rental income from care homes and depend to a large extent on public funding, through government subsidies of care as well as some very generous tax arrangements.

It is shocking that these levels of profits are considered perfectly normal for the sector and are simply the result of deliberate decisions made by government.

The report was covered in both the Dutch-speaking and Francophone media in Belgium where the findings will sound a warning bell that privatisation of core services can be a costly mistake and one that is easier to do that it is to undo.