Brookdale Senior Living just announced its August occupancy levels, and it has been a good summer so far. But the third quarter has always been the best quarter of the year for census increases for the entire sector, so we expected some good news. If not, that would have spelled trouble.
Weighted average occupancy in August increased sequentially by 50 basis points to 77.6%, while census at the end of August increased sequentially by a larger 80 basis points to 79.3%. This is the first time that month-end occupancy has topped 79% since the recovery began.
A year ago, weighted average occupancy was 76.4%, so Brookdale has not seen a big jump since then, just 120 basis points. It has been a slow go, but at least everything has been moving in the right direction since March. They just have a lot of ground still to make up.
The other good news was that Brookdale had more than 2,200 move-ins during August, more than any other month in the past five years. The news initially sent the share price up by 7.6%.
That move-in pace may have continued into September, and they will need it before we head into the flu season, and some potential COVID outbreaks. We hope they are analyzing why and how move-ins hit a five-year high so they can keep the pressure on. Next will be how they are doing with costs.
