It has been a slog for owners of nursing homes, but Omega Healthcare Investors continues to improve from the COVID messes it encountered. Major tenant LaVie, which entered into bankruptcy protection last June, paid its full monthly rent of $3.0 million from June 2014 through January 2025. And Maplewood, which ran into some serious problems, paid $4.5 million in rent in January and $12.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
The REIT is also growing, having completed $340 million in new investments in the fourth quarter, and $939 million for the full year. The fourth quarter investments included $179 million in real estate acquisitions and $162 million in new loans. The new loans have a weighted average interest rate of 10.9%, and 62% of them are expected to be converted to real estate ownership in the next 12 months. Not a bad way to expand your real estate portfolio.
Of the $179 million in real estate acquisitions, $151.1 million were care homes in the United Kingdom, including nine homes with 682 beds, for a price of $221,400 per bed. In addition, there were two nursing facilities in Texas with 227 beds purchased for $19.481 million, or $85,820 per bed, and one assisted living community in Oregon with 71 beds purchased for just under $8.0 million. These were all leased to three existing operators with initial cash yields of 10% with 2.0% to 2.5% annual escalators.
In the first quarter of this year, Omega provided a $15.4 million loan at 11% due in June 2030 to an existing operator. The REIT also acquired two facilities in Texas and leased them to a new operator with an initial cash yield of 9.9% with 2.0% annual escalators. Omega also recently sold six facilities for $26.3 million, at a gain of $1.9 million.
Existing operators continue to improve in their performance. Occupancy for the 12 months ended September 30, 2024, was 81.2%, up 210 basis points from the year-earlier period. EBITDAR coverage for the 12 months ended September 30, 2024, has increased to 1.87x compared with 1.63x for the year earlier period, and has increased for each 12-month period.
The share price is still hanging around the upper $30s per share, well above its 52-week low of $29.60 per share. The dividend yield is a healthy 7.0%.
