• SLIB’s Red-Hot Start to May

    Senior Living Investment Brokerage shot out of the gates in May, announcing six separate closings within just a couple of days. The closings included a couple of portfolios, two seniors housing asset sales and two skilled nursing deals. SLIB is on track for another record-breaking year. The largest deal was an eight-property seniors housing... Read More »
  • Independent Living Asset Near Breakeven Changes Hands

    Blueprint handled the sale of a 60-unit independent living community located just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. At the time of sale, the property was operating around breakeven and offered the opportunity for upside. The option to transition the community to an assisted living waiver model was presented, but the incoming regional owner/operator... Read More »
  • National Health Investors Leans Further Into SHOP Growth

    National Health Investors is continuing to lean into its SHOP segment, having invested $742.5 million into the strategy throughout the first quarter, a 106% increase from the prior year period. Year-to-date, the REIT has announced $212.4 million of investments, and is continuing to evaluate additional opportunities, focusing on private pay... Read More »
  • Senior Care Portfolio Secures Refinancing

    T7 Capital, a boutique seniors housing and healthcare advisory firm founded by industry veterans Ari Adlerstein and Josh Simpson, recently arranged a large bank refinancing for a portfolio of seniors housing and skilled nursing assets in Massachusetts. Working on behalf of a New York-based family office, T7 secured a $57.979 million loan from... Read More »
  • Regional Bank Provides Financing for MC Community

    Jeremy Warren of Montgomery Intermediary Group arranged a refinancing for a client’s 48-unit memory care community in Merrillville, Indiana. Originally built in 2016, the community was stabilized and had an approaching debt maturity. The owner sought to retire both the existing bank debt and an outstanding seller note from the initial... Read More »
Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

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 »
Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

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 »
Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

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 »
Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

Sabra and Care Capital Properties Merger Is Passed

After some dissidents tried to torpedo the deal, shareholders decided bigger was better. Well, the vote is in, and it looks like the merger of Sabra Health Care REIT and Care Capital Properties will go through as planned. It wasn’t easy, and Sabra’s CEO Rick Matros had to deal with two dissident shareholders who controlled only about 8% of the shares between them. They came into the stock late in the game and had no intention of staying around for long. But they caused enough of a ruckus to have shareholder advisory service firm, Institutional Shareholder Services, recommend a no vote against the merger. Let’s just say, we suspect ISS knows little about the skilled nursing business, and... Read More »
Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

Missing Out On Bad News

A vacation is a horrible thing when bad news hits the market. It is a horrible thing to go on vacation when all sorts of things are happening in the market, but such was the case last week. What I missed was the roll-out of earnings and the very disappointing occupancy numbers. For some, they were worse than the weak results posted for the second quarter by NIC. The ubiquitous villain was the tail of last winter’s flu season. But it seems the seniors housing sector is surviving on a two steps backward, one step forward cycle, and not making up much ground. What still amazes me is that the warning signs were there in abundance well over a year ago, yet too many people ignored them. Leading... Read More »
Change Will Be Coming To Seniors Housing

Home Health Under New Pressure

New proposed reimbursement rules sent Kindred Healthcare and other home health stocks plunging, but it is necessary? Well, the home healthcare industry got hit with a jolt last week with proposed new reimbursement rules. The news sent Kindred Healthcare’s shares down 15%, which especially hurt since they are completing their exit from the skilled nursing business, and home health and hospice is taking on an increasingly important role at the company. What I find extremely annoying is that, on the one side, the government and elder care advocates continue to push for at-home supports and services, and just as health care providers are gearing up for it, the government seems to take away any... Read More »