As we head to the end of the first quarter, seniors housing and care M&A activity may reach 100 transactions for the fourth consecutive quarter.

I should no longer be amazed by how strong the seniors housing and care M&A market remains, given all the headwinds we hear about all the time. From the public companies, Capital Senior Living’s stock took another tumble last week and Five Star Senior Living continues to struggle, but may soon get some rent relief.

Nevertheless, buyers keep on snapping up senior living and skilled nursing properties. We are approaching the end of the first quarter, and that often means a fair amount of deal announcements the last week.

Before we get those, we are already getting close to 100 acquisitions this quarter. If we reach that milestone, that will mean four straight quarters of 100+ publicly announced acquisitions, something that has never happened. I can almost guarantee that we will not hit the 119 deals of last year’s third quarter, but even if we just miss 100 acquisitions, it still represents one of the top 10 quarters ever.

Don’t forget, first quarters are usually a little slow, and last year there were “only” 87 announced deals. We have already passed that and counting. So, bring them on.