60 Seconds with Ben Swett: Occupancy Growth Slows in Q4
We are starting to get glimpses of seniors housing occupancy growth in the fourth quarter of 2021, and the only good news so far is that there at least haven’t been losses in average census. First, NIC announced that seniors housing occupancy rose to 81.0% in Q4, a 100-basis point increase from Q3’s average and 230 basis points higher than the pandemic low from Q2. Not great, considering the low basis the sector is coming from. Then, Welltower came out with its business update and its US SHOP portfolio gained 80 basis points in occupancy in Q4, but there was no gain in December. From its pandemic low in February 2021, Welltower has been able to improve US SHOP occupancy by 670 basis... Read More »
60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: 2021: Goodbye and Good Riddance
I thought about doing my usual year-end, cutesy Christmas poem where I roast a few industry leaders and friends, but somehow I just didn’t think it was appropriate this year. Maybe next year. Even though census and operating performance improved this year compared with 2020, it is still not enough. And then we had to end the year with the rising Omicron variant. No shutdowns here yet, and I don’t really see that happening since those who have been vaccinated have had mild symptoms to date. But it is just one more strain on an already over-worked health system that we did not need. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, all we heard was how resilient our industry was during that financial... Read More »60 Seconds with Ben Swett: Dissecting the Strong Skilled Nursing M&A Market
For a sector that has taken as many punches as it has in the last couple of years, the ever-resilient SNF market is still generating significant interest from investors that is pushing valuations to near-record highs. We still wonder who these buyers are, whether any are new to the sector and what their future expectations are surrounding census, payor mix, rates and labor costs to ensure these investments remain profitable in the years ahead. It also appears that values are up for both stabilized and non-stabilized facilities, so owners large and small could be tempted off the M&A sidelines in 2022 leading to a boom in transaction activity. A lot would have to depend on what happens... Read More »60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Venting About Medicare
Okay, I know it is the season to be jolly, but it has been a while since I have had something to vent about. When I signed up for Medicare two years ago (I know, hard to believe) I signed up for everything except Part D drug coverage. I had no prescriptions so why get coverage I didn’t need. Two years in, for a variety of reasons, I decided to sign up even though I still have no prescriptions. Just being conservative. A week after receiving my approval letter from United Healthcare, I received another letter saying I would be charged a “Late Enrollment Penalty” fee on my monthly premium. Because I had two years of no coverage, they use that period to calculate the monthly penalty. This... Read More »
60 Seconds with Ben Swett: Strong Census Gains Continue at NHI
As we head into the holidays, flu season and the snowy winter, when census gains will be much harder won and as our inboxes fill with news on the omicron variant, we want to point out some really positive occupancy news from National Health Investors’ latest business update. In October, average occupancy across its 42 Bickford Senior Living properties rose by 60 basis points to 81.3%, from 80.7% in September. That is up 670 basis points from the low in March of this year. In its smaller (SLC) Senior Living Communities portfolio of nine properties, average occupancy also rose by 60 basis points to 81.5%, or a 530-basis point increase from the low of last December. The Holiday Retirement... Read More »Schedule a demo
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