Brookdale Occupancy Declined As Expected
Brookdale Senior Living was no different from the rest of the market, posting sharp drops in first quarter occupancy. When we wrote the May issue of The SeniorCare Investor, we had to make some assumptions before Brookdale Senior Living announced its first quarter earnings. One assumption was that its occupancy rates had dropped given everything else we had heard in the market. Our assumptions were right. The legacy Emeritus properties posted a 110 basis point decline from the fourth quarter of 2014, and a whopping 200 basis point decline from a year ago. The legacy Brookdale properties dropped 80 basis points sequentially and 110 basis points from a year ago. This was not good news, but... Read More »REIT Shares Under Pressure Again
Rising interest rates are sending health care REIT shares down, but will it last? The timing could not be worse. What am I talking about? The recent rise in interest rates and its impact on REIT share values, not to mention looming acquisitions. The 10-year Treasury rate hit a low of 1.65% in February, which most people did not think was sustainable. It has now risen by a third, or 55 basis points, to 2.20%. That is a huge percentage change in rates, even though still quite low from an historical perspective and much lower than the jump in the spring of 2013 that sent REIT share prices plunging by 25%, which was a big overreaction. Easy for me to say. But with the recent rise in rates,... Read More »Brookdale May Be One Step Closer
With two new board members and some corporate governance changes, Brookdale Senior Living seems to be heading on the path of a major real estate event. What can I say, management at Brookdale Senior Living seems to be going down a path that I recommended they not take. Imagine that. Rather than have a public shareholder fight, they have added two new board members with some serious real estate experience, which is what activist investor Sandell Management wanted. The share price, however, closed early this week at its lowest level since March 6. Hmmm. We know that management and the board are supposed to make decisions to enhance shareholder value. I get it. But here is the problem. What... Read More »Skilled Nursing M&A In 2015
After the record-setting valuations in 2014, the skilled nursing acquisition market is already off to a strong start. After the skilled nursing market hit a record for the average price per bed for the second year in a row last year, I wasn’t too sure what to expect for 2015. So far, I have not been disappointed, as buying interest continues to be relatively strong, especially at the higher price points. In 2014, there were 19 transactions with a price above $100,000 per bed. So far this year, there have been four sales with a range between $132,000 and $189,000 per bed. On the lower end of the scale, there have been just three transactions below $40,000 per bed, which either means the... Read More »The Ventas Spin-off Has People Talking
Here are differing opinions as to what motivated Ventas to spin out most of its skilled nursing portfolio. There has been a lot of talk about the recent announcement by Ventas to spin out most of its skilled nursing properties into a new publicly traded REIT. In our April newsletter issue, we stated that it was a smart move for Ventas, and a great move for Ray Lewis, who will become CEO of the new spin out. But tongues have been wagging in terms of whether this was a defensive move on the part of Ventas, meaning that management has decided that the skilled nursing business is not something they want to focus on, at least not with small operators in their portfolio. Or, was it an offensive... Read More »Schedule a demo
Gain access to the best healthcare and long-term care investment intelligence, data, and analysis.
