• Strawberry Fields REIT’s 2025 Growth

    Strawberry Fields REIT reported its 2025 operating results, noting that it was the best year since its inception more than 10 year ago. The company posted significant increases in FFO and AFFO, and it completed more than $110 million in several new acquisitions. Its portfolio now includes 131 skilled nursing facilities, 10 assisted living... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Exits SNF Sector

    An independent owner/operator exited the skilled nursing sector through its divestment of Sunrise Country Manor, which has 80 beds in Milford, Nebraska, and features a mix of private and semi-private units. It maintained an 83% occupancy rate at the time of the sale. A regional operator looking to expand its footprint in Nebraska acquired the... Read More »
  • Assisted Living Providers Join Forces 

    Majestic Residences recently expanded its footprint, adding 17 assisted living communities and six in active development, through its acquisition of Avendelle Senior Living. Avendelle will be integrated into the Majestic Residences platform, with Avendelle’s corporate team retained. The combined organization will operate under the Majestic... Read More »
  • Investor Secures Financing and Acquires Class-A Community

    BWE’s Seniors Housing Capital Markets Team sold and financed The Capstone at Station Camp, which sits in the Nashville, Tennessee MSA. Built in 2021, the Class-A assisted living and memory care community comprises 100 units in Gallatin. It is operated by TerraBella Senior Living.  BWE represented the seller, Hunt Midwest. The buyer was a... Read More »
  • Multiple SNFs Sell in Separate Transactions

    A large skilled nursing company sold its 181-bed skilled nursing facility to a private investment firm based in New York, exiting South Carolina in the process. The buyer had an existing skilled nursing footprint, and will be leasing this facility to a regional operator. The building was older, built in the 1980s, and was around 80% occupied at... Read More »
Are Cap Rates Set To Rise in 2024?

Are Cap Rates Set To Rise in 2024?

In a recent survey conducted by Cushman & Wakefield, 68% of respondents anticipate a sustained increase in capitalization rates over the next year, expressing concern over debt market liquidity, which is the primary worry for 51% of participants. The majority of respondents, 49%, are pursuing core-plus investment strategies, while 34% focus on opportunistic or distressed investments, expecting around $18 billion in sector-specific loan maturities within the next 24 months. Notably, 33% of participants are targeting need-driven segments, particularly assisted living. There’s a notable compression in basis point spreads between the going-in capitalization rate and terminal capitalization... Read More »
Sonida Senior Living Still Making Progress

Sonida Senior Living Still Making Progress

As Col. Hannibal Smith of the A-Team was fond of saying, “I love it when a plan comes together.” For Sonida Senior Living, it has been a long struggle, and while it may be taking longer than management wanted, the plan is slowly coming together. Everything is moving in the right direction, with occupancy up 150 basis points year over year to 84.9% in the third quarter, higher than industry averages, resident revenue increased 12.6% year over year, adjusted EBITDA more than doubled in the third quarter compared with the year-ago quarter, and RevPOR increased by 11.7% year over year. October’s census increased by 40 basis points from September to over 86%. The third quarter also saw... Read More »
Chartwell Retirement Residences Sees Census Soar

Chartwell Retirement Residences Sees Census Soar

Canada-based Chartwell Retirement Residences has been seeing a resurgence of occupancy growth that seems to be above and beyond the normal third quarter increases that we have come to expect.  The third quarter saw census increase by 210 basis points from the June average of 80.1%, but it grew by another 100 basis points in October to 83.2%. They expect to add another 100 basis points over the next two months. Not too shabby. If they keep it up, they may reach the 95% occupancy levels of Ventas’s Canadian operators. Leasing activity in 2023 to date is 18% higher than the company’s pre-pandemic levels. Occupancy is now 600 basis points above its recent low of 77.2% in April 2022. With... Read More »
Is This The Time To Start A REIT?

Is This The Time To Start A REIT?

As we know, healthcare REITs suffered during the pandemic, with share prices hitting lows in March 2020. It was a long battle to regain previous values and even longer to sort out the various tenant problems. Balance sheets have been cleaned up, tenants and properties have been replaced, but there are still many legacy problems. Is now a good time to start a REIT with a clean slate? Well, 1031 Crowdfunding thinks so. It has just launched Covenant Senior Housing REIT, which out of the gate has three assisted living/memory care properties with a value of $51.25 million. The communities are located in Oregon and California with an average 89.0% occupancy. They plan to buy cash-flowing... Read More »
Are Cap Rates Set To Rise in 2024?

CareTrust REIT Steadies For The Future

While it may not have been CareTrust REIT’s best quarter, there do not seem to be many problems with its tenants. The REIT collected 97.5% of contractual rent, up from 96.7% in the previous quarter. It helps when The Ensign Group is your major tenant. Lease coverage ratios are important when most of your business is triple net leases. For CareTrust, it is the envy of the industry. For the 12 months ended June 30, 2023 (REITs and their leases are always three months behind in reporting), CareTrust’s top 10 tenants had a combined EBITDARM coverage ratio of 2.87x, up from 2.71x for the previous 12-month period. And this excludes any use of HHS Relief Funds. Within this group, Ensign was tops... Read More »
Are Cap Rates Set To Rise in 2024?

Sabra: The Manager Really Does Matter

There were a lot of moving parts during 2023 at Sabra Health Care REIT with regard to its former Enlivant portfolio, owned in a joint venture with private equity firm TPG. After defaulting on its Fannie Mae debt and basically handing the keys over to Fannie for a majority of its Enlivant assets, Sabra still owned 11 Enlivant-managed communities outside of its TPG joint venture.   These properties were transitioned to Inspirit Senior Living on July 6. In just three months, census in the portfolio increased by more than 230 basis points. We can’t wait to see where it will be this time next year. This has been a common theme of sorts: a new manager is brought in for underperforming... Read More »