• Ensign Continues To Rock

    When quarterly earnings season hits, we have always been nervous about some company reporting unexpected bad news and maybe sending shock waves through the industry. The one exception is The Ensign Group, which rarely, if ever, has had a negative surprise. They did not disappoint us with their second quarter results. We have been waiting for... Read More »
  • Family Office Acquires Florida Seniors Housing Portfolio 

    Berkadia facilitated the sale of a four-property assisted living and memory care portfolio along Florida’s West Coast. Brooks Minford closed the transaction on behalf of two separate sellers. The buyer of all four properties, a Central Florida-based family office looking to expand its existing footprint, finalized the closings on July 23. The... Read More »
  • Forest Facilitates Florida SNF Acquisitions

    Forest Healthcare Properties handled two separate skilled nursing transactions in Florida. First, engaged by a regional owner/operator looking to exit the Tampa and Orlando MSAs, Forest helped facilitate the sale leaseback for a portfolio of seven SNFs. Built in 1980, the portfolio encompassed 866 beds with an occupancy rate above 90%. At the... Read More »
  • The Zett Group’s Summer Surge

    The Zett Group, a brokerage firm focused on the Pacific Northwest, has hit a rich vein of activity, closing four separate transactions in recent weeks. Blake Bozett handled the transactions, with even more deals to be announced soon. First, built in 2006, Streamside Assisted Living and Memory Care features 79 assisted living and memory care units... Read More »
  • StoryPoint Acquires in Michigan

    Alex Vice, Josh Jandris and Thomas Falkenberg of Walker & Dunlop facilitated the sale of two seniors housing communities in Oakland County, Michigan, which included Blossom Ridge (Rochester) and Blossom Village/Blossom Springs (Oakland Charter Township). In total, the communities encompass 245 units: Blossom Ridge features active adult,... Read More »
60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Mad as Hell

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Mad as Hell

We are halfway through the year, and I am already angry. Angry at what, you may ask? All the interference from government, both elected officials and the bureaucrats. From people who think they understand how seniors housing should work. From the unions. From the anti-PE firm groups. I always say, do a few 12-hour shifts, or move in for a few days, and then tell me what you think. It is not easy, and most people are doing the best they can. Regardless, I am mad as Hell and getting tired of it all.  Except, and not to sound hypocritical, but I had to smile when I read about the investigations into A Place for Mom, a service that I always had my suspicions about. A service that many... Read More »
Beth Mace New Director at Brookdale

Beth Mace New Director at Brookdale

Brookdale Senior Living recently held its annual meeting of shareholders, and Beth Mace was voted in as a new member of its Board of Directors. Not only that, but she received more votes than any other nominee (157,658,156), and fewer “against” votes than any other nominee.     As readers know, we have complained that for many years Brookdale’s board has lacked any outside directors with any real knowledge of the seniors housing business, and now they have one. Beth recently retired as the head of research at NIC, and had been responsible for providing financial data to the industry to try to help investors and lenders understand certain dynamics, and how those dynamics... Read More »
Brookdale Posts Census Increase…Finally

Brookdale Posts Census Increase…Finally

We are now beyond this year’s muted flu season, and Brookdale Senior Living posted a small increase in occupancy for May, which should be the beginning of the peak summer selling period. If they don’t see larger increases in the next three months, it may be a rough start to next year. May average occupancy increased by 20 basis points over April, to 78.1%, while month-end occupancy increased by 30 basis points over April to 79.5%. Second quarter-to-date weighted average occupancy increased by 160 basis points to 78.0% compared with 76.4% in the comparable 2023 period.  Unfortunately for Brookdale, this significantly underperforms the market. Using Welltower’s same-community SHOP... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: WSJ’s Private Equity Analysis in Health Care

60 Seconds with Swett: WSJ’s Private Equity Analysis in Health Care

Last week, The Wall Street Journal published an article examining private equity activity in the healthcare M&A market, specifically that its activity was down compared with 2023 because of increased regulatory scrutiny and higher interest rates. The article cited Pitchbook transaction data, and some of the numbers left our editors at our sister platform LevinPro HC, which exclusively covers the healthcare M&A market, scratching their heads. According to Pitchbook, as cited in the article, there were 180 PE add-on deals, or when a PE firm buys a company through a portfolio company, through May 28. Our numbers are higher, as LevinPro HC recorded 193 deals from a PE-backed company,... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: WSJ’s Private Equity Analysis in Health Care

60 Seconds with Swett: How Serious Is the Minimum Staffing Mandate?

We conducted a survey of our readers, asking some questions on the skilled nursing M&A market. Most of the results will be featured in the June issue of The SeniorCare Investor, released later this week, but here are a couple of takeaways from it. First, we asked whether the threat of the minimum staffing mandate (as it currently stands) would impact buyer demand for SNFs. The majority, or 72%, said “somewhat” while 21% said “not at all.” Only 7% thought that there would be a significant impact. Posing the same question, but how lenders’ ability to lend for SNFs would be impacted, also saw the majority, or 64%, of respondents say “somewhat” and 14% believed it would have no impact.... Read More »
60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Mad as Hell

60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: What if Boomers Are Not the Disruptors?

How many times have you heard that the boomers will be major disruptors of the seniors housing sector, causing providers to rethink, and change, how they provide their care and services? Too many times? I admit, I have been guilty of this as well. But I have been thinking about this concept (I know, a scary thought), and now I have some doubts. What do seniors housing providers do? They provide housing, care, meals, and an environment for socialization, among other services, all in a safe setting. Since I am in the middle of the pack of boomers, I don’t see those services changing much. Tweaked? Of course. But the basics should always be there. Boomers are going to be very demanding, or so... Read More »