• Regional Owner/Operator Enters New State

    A regional owner/operator looking to enter the state of Indiana acquired Smith Farms Manor, an independent living community in Auburn, about 30 miles south of the Michigan border. Built in 1998, the community features 51 units and is well maintained. It sits on an attractive four-acre campus down the street from Parkview DeKalb Hospital and off... Read More »
  • Skilled Nursing Portfolio Gets New Operator

    Evans Senior Investments secured a new lease for a skilled nursing portfolio in Tennessee on behalf of an institutional owner. The portfolio features four assets and was operating below 70% occupancy with margins under 10%. Despite that performance, ESI secured a lease $3 million above in-place cash flow, reflecting the operational upside that... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing and Care M&A Remains Elevated in Q1:26

    The number of publicly announced seniors housing and care acquisitions in the first quarter of 2026 reached 231 deals, based on new acquisition data from LevinPro LTC. This represents a 19.8% decrease from the 288 transactions disclosed in the fourth quarter of 2025, but a 25.5% increase from the 184 deals in Q1:25.   “It was always going... Read More »
  • Clarion Acquires Again in Colorado

    Two years after opening a 160-unit seniors housing community in Centennial, Colorado (Denver MSA), MorningStar Senior Living announced an expanding relationship with Clarion Partners, a leading real estate investment company and specialty investment manager of Franklin Templeton, in its acquisition of MorningStar at Holly Park. The community... Read More »
  • 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 »
Welcome to NIC 2017

Skilled Nursing Facility Irma Fall-Out

Eight horrible deaths in one skilled nursing facility should not result in new regulations. By now we have all heard about the disaster at the skilled nursing facility in Hollywood, Florida where eight residents died from the heat during Hurricane Irma. It never should have happened, and we all have to wonder what the staff was thinking when inside temperatures soared and vital signs hit the danger zone. What we should have expected is politicians, regulators and other groups demanding more staffing so something like this does not happen again. While I agree that this should never happen again, I don’t agree that staffing levels should be re-evaluated as a result of one horrible event. And... Read More »
Welcome to NIC 2017

REIT Financing: RIDEA or Sale/Leaseback

As healthcare REITs get ready to invest in 2018, it will be important for owners to know whether to go the traditional sale/leaseback route, or the newer RIDEA structure. Many of you have noticed that the volume of healthcare REIT financing has been lower the past couple of years, especially for those REITs that have been restructuring their portfolios. That is going to change. I suspect we will be seeing a turnaround in activity next year, and when that happens, it is best to be prepared. But prepared for what? Will customers want to continue with the traditional sale/leaseback structure that has been around for more than four decades? Or maybe a different twist on the old product? What... Read More »
Welcome to NIC 2017

Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

What if there is more to the decline in seniors housing occupancy than just new development? Sometimes it seems I just think too much about this industry. For instance, it has been bothering me that occupancy continues to decline, even in quarters when it should be rising. New development has been having an impact, of course. But what if there is something else going on, or maybe multiple things? A lot is going to happen, and change, between now and when the first boomer turns 80 in 2026, and we may have to wait until they are 85 or even older for the “big impact.” Everyone has been focused on this demographic, and there is the often discussed thought of, what if we increase penetration... Read More »
Welcome to NIC 2017

Financial Modeling for Seniors Housing Acquisitions Has Changed

Financial modeling for seniors housing and care is not as easy as it used to be, when revenues could be assumed to rise faster than expenses. Have you noticed that financial modeling for seniors housing and care is not as easy as it used to be? In the past, forecasters (and buyers) would model 2% increases in annual costs and 3% increases in revenues. This would build in a growing profit amount, which always looked good to lenders and investors. One of the problems with this was that annual capital expenditures were always, and I mean always, low-balled. Often it was a plug number at $300 per unit or bed, when it should have been three, four or five times that amount. The problem today is... Read More »
Welcome to NIC 2017

Seniors Housing And Affordability

New development is widely blamed for occupancy declines, but affordability may be just as culpable. Declining occupancy in seniors housing has been a major issue for the past 18 months or so, and while it took some providers way too long to admit that new development was taking its toll on census, there may be other things at work. One big one is affordability. While analysts celebrate that rents have gone up 3% despite census declines, remember that the numbers are based on asking rents. Just possibly, however, those rising asking rents are scaring some people away. I have not seen any statistical analysis on this, but I think the seniors housing sector really has to take a hard look at... Read More »