Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the interest of living in retirement housing among Indonesian Muslims, referring to the increasing number of elderly residents. Design/methodology/approach – This research used the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Ecological Theory of Aging and analyzed them by using the Partial Least Square–Structural Equation Modeling. Findings – The results indicate that attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and economic sustainability significantly influence the intention to live in retirement housing. Religiosity and religious housing variables are found to have a significant influence on attitudes, whereas social sustainability and environmental sustainability do not significantly affect the intention to live in retirement housing. These findings suggest strong potential for the future development of retirement housing that accommodates religious aspects. Originality/value – This research responds to previous research recommendations to study the effects of religious influence to understand differences in interest in living in retirement housing among Indonesian Muslim communities, precisely looking at the relationship between religiosity and religious aspects. © 2026 Emerald Publishing Limited