• 60 Seconds with Swett: Rising Treasuries and Senior Care M&A

    Momentum in the M&A market has continued into 2025, and there is general optimism that the new Administration that descended on Washington this week will be good for the business environment. Although there is some uncertainty around what, if any, tariffs are enacted and whether their effect on prices would potentially be blunted by falling... Read More »
  • PruittHealth Secures Financing in Georgia

    Jay Healy and Andrew Lanzaro of Berkadia closed a $9.1 million bridge-to-HUD loan on behalf of PruittHealth to facilitate the acquisition of a skilled nursing facility. The 18-month, interest-only bridge loan represented 76.5% of the value and is prepayable at any time, putting its value at around $11.9 million, or $180,000 per bed. Berkadia... Read More »
  • MorningStar Welcomes New President/CIO

    MorningStar Senior Living announced a new President and Chief Investment Officer, Jamie Ranzan. Ranzan brings 20 years of experience in real estate development, acquisitions and operations across multiple property types, including senior living. Ranzan began her career at Ernst & Young as an auditor in the real estate group of its Orange... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing Occupancy Hits New Post-Pandemic High

    NIC released its latest seniors housing occupancy update for the 31 NIC Map Primary Markets, and fourth quarter 2024 census has hit another post-pandemic occupancy high. Overall seniors housing occupancy rose to 87.2%, up 70 basis points from 86.5% in the third quarter. Separated out by property type, majority-independent living properties were... Read More »
  • Alternative-Use Buyer Acquires Standalone Memory Care Community

    Before the year ended, BWE closed on the sale of a standalone memory care community in Suwanee, Georgia. Built in 2013, Peachtree Villa at Suwanee comprises 42-units on three acres. At the time of the sale, the property was not in operation. The buyer will renovate the property for an alternative use.  Charley Bissell handled the... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: 2024 Already Surpasses 500 Deals

60 Seconds with Swett: 2024 Already Surpasses 500 Deals

The optimism in the seniors housing and care industry was palpable at the NIC Fall Conference in Washington, D.C. last week, partially because of interest rates falling for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, but also partially because of the record-setting M&A streak we have been on for most of the year, so far. We are three quarters into 2024, and we have already virtually reached 2023’s annual deal total of 511 deals, at 508 deals according to LevinPro LTC. If you include the deals made public on October 1, we have surpassed that total, with an entire quarter to go. And if the anecdotal stories of BOVs, new listings and closing pipelines are true, we are going to shatter... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Surprising Price of Aging at Home

60 Seconds with Swett: The Surprising Price of Aging at Home

Despite the enormous opportunity that demographics offer the seniors housing industry in the next decade, the affordability factor may prove to seriously sink demand for the product. That makes it that much more important for the industry to provide more middle- and lower-market options but also to demonstrate its value to the consumer. Demonstrating its value relative to alternatives such as…living at home…could prove effective too, which is why ASHA just released a new Special Issue Brief called The Surprising Price of Staying in a House: Cost Comparisons Often Favor Senior Living. The title gives it away. Prepared by Dan Bernstein, formerly of Stifel and Capital One, and available for... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Surprising Price of Aging at Home

60 Seconds with Swett: Rates Tumble on Eve of NIC

Two years ago at the NIC Fall Conference, the spike in interest rates, with the 10-Year Treasury rate heading above 3.5%, seemed to spook many investors, as deals started disintegrating left and right. That did not help to lift the mood of everyone there. Then, last year, on the eve of NIC, rates were again spiking, this time above 4.5% and heading to 5.0%. The Fed may have stopped its rate increases, but the costs of borrowing were not on the decline. At least there was a belief that the worst had passed, or at least we were in the middle of the worst. Again, did not lift the spirit of the thousands of NIC attendees, and thank you for the open bars.  Now, we are approaching another... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: The Surprising Price of Aging at Home

60 Seconds with Swett: Senior Care M&A: Ready to Explode?

The industry seems to be on the brink of a breakout M&A period, which is an astonishing thing to say when we are already in the midst of a record-breaking period of transaction activity.  The promise of an interest rate cut, even a 25-basis point cut, could usher a number of buyers off the sidelines, and if a few lower cap rate deals get announced, then a few more owners of high-quality communities could be tempted off the sidelines too. On our webinar last week covering the mid-year update of our M&A and valuation statistics, our panelists seemed to believe that a number of large deals were looming, which could help break the logjam of mostly small deals closing in the... Read More »
60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Where Do Valuations Stand in 2024?

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Where Do Valuations Stand in 2024?

It seems that despite the record levels of M&A activity we are witnessing in the seniors housing and care market, there are still scores of buyers and lenders still ready to pounce on the growth opportunity but have not done so yet.  They are just waiting for something, either an interest rate cut (or two), more competitive term sheets from capital providers, certain operating metrics in their respective markets, or just some reasonable assurance that the senior care industry and the capital markets will not implode in the near term. When these buyers return to the M&A market, they will need to know where pricing is for different kinds of deals, what lending options they may... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: 2024 Already Surpasses 500 Deals

60 Seconds with Swett: M&A and Financing Markets Breaking Loose

We have to say that there seems to be a good amount of optimism out there, despite an uncertain economy, an unsettling election cycle and constant pressure on operators to increase census and cash flow. Rates have a lot to do with it, as the 10-Year Treasury rate appears to have settled below 4% and expectations of one and more likely two rate cuts are increasingly becoming consensus. That is far from a sure thing, but we have heard that even one rate cut could be enough to bring a lot of buyers, sellers and lenders back into the fold, with the reasonable assurance that rates have started their descent. We also spoke with a couple of lenders who described a much healthier debt and equity... Read More »