• 60 Seconds with Swett: Sticks and Bricks in ’26?

    The talk around new development is getting a lot more serious in the seniors housing industry, leading us to wonder if our 2024 prediction of “Sticks and Bricks in ‘26” may actually come true, somewhat. Back then, we may have thought that interest rates would have come down a bit more by now, but that the FOMO of getting involved in seniors... Read More »
  • Wyoming SNF Sale Sets New State Record

    There was a new record set for skilled nursing pricing in the state of Wyoming with the sale of Big Horn Rehabilitation and Care Center in Sheridan. Built in the 1960s, the facility features 128 beds and was 61% occupied. It was owned by a regional operator that was looking to recycle capital.  Before the marketing process, Evans Senior... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Acquires Facility Out of Bankruptcy

    A senior care facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, sold as part of a bankruptcy process with the help of Patrick Burke and Toby Siefert of Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Built in 1970, Donna Kay Rest Home features 60 licensed beds in 31 units, providing a higher level of care and supervision than assisted living but at a lesser acuity than... Read More »
  • Civitas Sells Community to Clarion

    Hap Knowles and Nick Stahler of the Knapp-Stahler Group at Institutional Property Advisors announced that they led the sale of a seniors housing community in the Phoenix, Arizona MSA, to the fast-growing real estate investment firm Clarion Partners. The deal appears to be The Retreat at Alameda, a 110-unit assisted living/memory care community in... Read More »
  • Blueprint Handles Recapitalization

    Blueprint handled the recapitalization of Forest Hills Commons, a 2017-developed, 119-unit assisted living/memory care community in the Louisville, Kentucky MSA. A Louisville-based senior living owner/operator/developer engaged Blueprint in the third quarter of 2025 to begin the process. The asset demonstrated strong in-place performance and... Read More »

Seniors Housing Bubble or Not?

Webinar attendees voted by nearly 3 to 1 that we are approaching a valuation bubble. More than 125 people joined us live last week for our webinar on the Seniors Housing Market: Bubble or No Bubble. Acquisition values across the spectrum all hit new records in 2014, and as you can guess, cap rates across the spectrum all declined, but not to record lows….yet. If we are approaching a bubble, most of the panelists believed that trouble would not begin until 2016 at the earliest and 2018 at the latest. And they also believed that it was more likely that an outside event would be the cause of a market decline, such as a big jump in interest rates or some economic calamity, rather than an... Read More »

Genesis Healthcare Makes First Earnings Report

News of higher operating costs sends the shares of newly merged Genesis Healthcare and Skilled Healthcare down more than 20%. Welcome back to the world of public investors. I say this to George Hager and his team at Genesis Healthcare, which closed on the reverse merger with Skilled Healthcare on February 2. Just three weeks later, they reported fourth quarter operating results for both companies, and while the skilled patient day mix at Genesis increased by 60 basis points and occupancy increased 30 basis points from the year ago quarter, Skilled Healthcare’s occupancy declined 110 basis points from the fourth quarter in 2013, to just 81.1%. Sounds a little too similar to the... Read More »

Brookdale and Monetizing Real Estate Value

Pressure is mounting on Brookdale Senior Living to monetize the value of its owned real estate, but at what cost? The pressure is increasing on Brookdale Senior Living “to do something” to monetize the hidden value in its owned real estate. This has all come up as a result of a weak fourth quarter from the recent Emeritus purchase. We have a big problem with all this. Yes, management always has to look to increase shareholder value. But everything that is being talked about is a short-term fix taking advantage of the current capital markets environment. As you know, we never liked the Emeritus acquisition for Brookdale. But now, by selling off the owned real estate of the combined company,... Read More »

Pressure on Brookdale To Pump Up Value

A dissident shareholder has emerged trying to pressure Brookdale Senior Living to monetize its real estate assets. With Brookdale Senior Living’s weak fourth quarter earnings announcement came the dissident shareholder response from Sandell Asset Management. They want Brookdale to monetize the value of the real estate owned to boost the share price by nearly 35%, taking advantage of higher REIT valuations. Sorry, but it just isn’t that easy. Sandell’s proposal is to spin out the real estate, most likely in a new REIT in a tax-free distribution to shareholders. Well, that’s fine, but if it sale/leasebacks on 35,000 units, what about those rent escalators on such a large portfolio? Would it... Read More »

Kindred Completes Gentiva Acquisition

With $7.2 billion in annual revenues, Kindred Healthcare is the largest post-acute provider in the country, but now the hard work begins. This past Monday, Kindred Healthcare closed on its $1.8 billion acquisition of home health and hospice provider Gentiva Health Services. With this completed, Kindred is entering a pivotal period in its corporate life because it has all the parts to run a true nationwide post-acute company, from hospital discharge to the home. It is the largest LTAC and inpatient rehab operator in the country, the largest provider of rehab, home health and hospice services in the country, and one of the largest subacute and skilled nursing providers. You might think that... Read More »

Seniors Housing Portfolio in New England Sells For Top Price

Nine properties in three states sell for over $500,000 per unit, more than doubling in value in 10 years. Patient capital in seniors housing can certainly reap its rewards. Take the case of Boston-based Intercontinental Real Estate, which purchased nine senior living communities in New England from BayNorth Capital in 2005 for approximately $225,000 per unit. The one constant in the portfolio was Benchmark Senior Living, which was a minority co-investor with BayNorth and managed the portfolio. With the sale in 2005, they remained as the manager, and also stayed in as a co-investor. The portfolio has now been sold again, but for about $521,000 per unit. Individual properties have sold at a... Read More »