• Brookdale’s Summer Test Ahead

    Brookdale Senior Living reported its March occupancy results, and it unfortunately took another step in the wrong direction. We will get a better read when peers report first-quarter results and when NIC MAP releases its next tranche of occupancy data, but at this point, it seems as though Brookdale will need a particularly strong performance... Read More »
  • Public REIT Acquires New England Seniors Housing Portfolio

    Blueprint announced that it handled the sale of a three-community private pay seniors housing portfolio in Rhode Island. A Dallas-based private equity firm engaged Blueprint in 2025 to sell the portfolio, which it acquired with Capital Health Group in 2019. The assets comprise 367 independent living, assisted living and memory care units in the... Read More »
  • Regional Owner/Operator Exits Senior Care Industry

    Senior Living Investment Brokerage completed a regional owner/operator’s exit from the seniors housing industry with a third and final disposition. The asset was The Homestead in Fallon, Nevada, about one hour east of Reno. It was originally built between 1972 and 1980 and has undergone significant renovations in 2007 and 2018. Most recently, in... Read More »
  • Well-Performing SNF Trades in Iowa

    A skilled nursing facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that boasted strong occupancy levels and consistent cash flow traded hands. The facility had long-standing referral relationships and a reliable census pipeline. But, there is still room for upside.  Ownership was intentional in selecting a buyer that would preserve and build upon the facility’s... Read More »
  • Class-A Active Adult Community Trades

    An active adult community north of Houston, Texas, sold with the help of Cody Tremper, Mike Garbers, Ross Sanders and Dave Fasano of Berkadia Seniors Housing & Healthcare. Alders Magnolia encompasses 184 units in Magnolia, and was built in 2021. The seller was Capitol Seniors Housing, and the buyer was Texas-based active adult development and... Read More »
The Pennant Group Debut

The Pennant Group Debut

The Pennant Group is The Ensign Group’s latest spin off. If history repeats itself, the new company will succeed. It has been three weeks since The Pennant Group was spun out of The Ensign Group as a separate publicly traded company. This is not Ensign’s first rodeo when it comes to successful spin outs. Five years ago, it spun out the majority of its real estate assets (and mostly skilled nursing) into CareTrust REIT, which has been among the leaders in shareholder return among healthcare-oriented REITs.  As Ensign grew its senior living and home health and hospice business, management decided that shareholders would benefit from higher valuation multiples if these assets were spun... Read More »
The Pennant Group Debut

Assisted Living M&A Market

Despite many headwinds, the assisted living acquisition market remains vibrant with high prices and no shortage of buyers. Find out how they are dealing with the issues of aging properties, census and labor in this dynamic webinar. Prices paid in the assisted living M&A market remain high, despite census, labor and demand headwinds. Obviously, low interest rates and plenty of equity capital have helped maintain current pricing levels. But buyers, and sellers, are facing many issues right now, and into the future.  Despite all the new development during the past five or more years, the acquisition market is filled with older assisted living communities, and the ones built in the 1990s... Read More »
The Pennant Group Debut

Therapy and PDPM

We are now one week into the new PDPM reimbursement system, and already therapist layoffs have begun. Well, we are just one week into the new Patient-Driven Payment Model (PDPM) for Medicare reimbursement for skilled nursing facilities, and already the therapist layoffs have begun. Why? Because providers are no longer paid for the amount of therapy they provide patients. The new payments will be based on patient needs, especially for higher acuity patients. So, here is my question. If the patient profile has not changed from September to October, why were patients provided with a certain number of therapy hours in September if they actually did not need that much therapy, or if the extra... Read More »
The Pennant Group Debut

Seniors Housing And NIMBY

When NIMBYism hits home, and in my mailbox. I put some mail in my mailbox at home this morning (yes, I still use the USPS), and overnight someone slipped a “Dear Neighbors” letter in the box. It wanted to make us aware of a “massive” new development planned just two blocks from the downtown area of town. And what is the plan? A CCRC, which is something our growing elderly population has been clamoring for for a few decades. It is sponsored by the local not-for-profit that already has a skilled nursing facility and a small IL community, which is really assisted living “lite.” But there has never been anything like a CCRC, which is what many of the elderly want. Large units, services,... Read More »
The Pennant Group Debut

Acquisition Market Remains Strong

Transaction volume is still running ahead of last year’s record, fueled by liquidity and low interest rates. As of yesterday, seniors housing and care acquisition volume was still running ahead of last year’s record-setting pace. We are well over 300 transactions so far in 2019, and September is already looking to beat last year’s September, with several days to go. The question still remains, how long can this go on? The simple answer is as long as liquidity in the market remains at current levels. And that liquidity will remain as long as returns stay higher than alternative investments. They have, and low interest rates have not hurt.  The other question is, when will the slow... Read More »
The Pennant Group Debut

2019 NIC Takeaways

The record crowd of 3,300 attendees were mostly positive about the market despite the headwinds. After spending four days last week in Chicago with my 3,300 best friends, my one big takeaway is the continued positivity that brought a record crowd to NIC. Not everyone was positive, but more capital keeps coming into the sector for a reason, even though returns have softened.  One topic that kept on coming up was that new development is beginning to slow. But what many people forget is that a national statistic has little meaning for a particular market. Some areas are slowing down because they got way overbuilt, but others keep on chugging along, like Sarasota, Florida, despite the... Read More »