While we would hope that seniors housing companies are reporting their highest occupancy levels since the bottom of the COVID market in March 2021, Brookdale Senior Living did it in pretty good fashion.
Brookdale finally topped 80% in month-end occupancy for August, reaching 80.4%, or a 50 basis-point increase over July. It also represented a 110-basis point increase from a year ago. Weighted average occupancy reached 78.9% in August, a 30-basis point sequential increase and a 130-basis point increase year over year. We would expect solid census increases in the traditionally strong third quarter, so this was not a surprise. But they will have to maintain these improvements through the fourth quarter if they want to head into the flu season in a strong position.
