• Senex Foundation Divests SNFs to Owner/Operator

    Vince Viverito, Jason Punzel, Jake Anderson and Taylor Graham of Senior Living Investment Brokerage were engaged by Senex Foundation, a Denver, Colorado-based owner/operator, to help with the disposition of a four-property portfolio and recently closed the second tranche involving two skilled nursing facilities in Nebraska. The deal included the... Read More »
  • 60 Seconds with Swett: The REITs’ Acquisition Appetite

    With most of the Q1 earnings results in, we’ve been sifting through a lot of good news on occupancy growth, resident rate increases, expanding NOI margins and the phenomenal long-term outlooks. But our main takeaway had to be the major M&A plans that almost every publicly traded company has completed so far this year and plans to close... Read More »
  • Sonida Senior Living Reports Q1 as CNL Deal Reshapes Portfolio

    Sonida Senior Living reported its first quarter results after becoming the eighth largest seniors housing owner toward the close of the quarter. The company completed its acquisition of CNL Healthcare Properties, a public, non-traded REIT that owned 69 seniors housing communities, bringing Sonida’s owned portfolio to 153 owned properties and... Read More »
  • Alta Senior Living Secures Refinance

    At the end of 2021, Alta Senior Living acquired Tequesta Terrace Senior Living (at that time, Village of Tequesta, Tequesta Terrace), a 106-unit assisted living/memory care community in Palm Beach County, Florida. After executing its value-add capex, operational turnaround and lease-up plan, Alta engaged Blueprint to run a full debt process. A... Read More »
  • All-Cash Skilled Nursing Deal Closes

    An undisclosed buyer acquired a 99-bed skilled nursing facility in Ohio through an all-cash transaction after the seller’s senior lender pushed for an exit. Stan Klos III of 3G Healthcare Real Estate handled the deal. An initial buyer walked away from the deal after a conversion from a lease-only structure was declined by the lender. Another... 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 »

Cap Rates And Reality

There appears to be a feeding frenzy on where cap rates should be, and the frenzy is only taking them lower. Did you read about the fully stabilized assisted living community that sold for a 3.5% cap rate on first year numbers? You didn’t? April fools, neither did I. But don’t be surprised if it happens given the way the market is going. Two months ago, while attending a seniors housing conference, we heard a rather matter-of-fact statement that cap rates for “A” properties were in the range of 5.5% to 6.0%, and “B” properties were in the broad 6% range. While our annual statistics do not bear this out, we do know that there are transactions done with cap rates between 5% and 6%, with a... Read More »

The Battle For Brookdale

Shareholders are taking it up a notch to raise the value of Brookdale Senior Living. In World War II we had the Battle of the Bulge, and in seniors housing, we now have the Battle for Brookdale. Sandell Management, which owns about 2 million Brookdale shares, has nominated three directors, including Tommy Sandell himself, to help the company maximize shareholder value, claiming current directors have little real estate expertise, and in one case seem in imply that one current director, who they want to replace, is too old by stating his age (77). Tell that to Jim Moore. Now, Glenview Capital Management, which has upped its ownership from 8.75 million shares three months ago to 11.59... Read More »