
‘Tis The Season To Borrow
So, inflation is at a 30-year high, but interest rates have not increased much. It is actually all relative since they are much higher than when the 10-year Treasury hit a low of 0.54% in March 2020. But seriously, that was a bit silly, just like oil at a negative price per barrel. If the inflation numbers stay high for a while, and end up not being “transitory,” something we heard several months ago but not so much lately, at some point that has to get embedded into interest rates. Which leads us to conclude that now is not a bad time to shore up your capital structure and borrow or refinance before rates rise. Two REITs are taking advantage of the market conditions, both with... Read More »
Genesis HealthCare Makes Changes
Just after announcing that its CEO would be stepping down, Genesis HealthCare revealed more changes. The current COO, Paul Bach, the Chief Nursing Officer, JoAnne Reifsnyder, and the CFO, Tom DiVittorio, have all announced they will be leaving the company. They have spent the past 38 years, 10 years and 25 years, respectively, at the company, so a lot of institutional knowledge will be walking out the door. The new COO will be Melissa Powell, who most recently was the President and COO of The Allure Group, a New York City-based nursing home operator. Orrin Feingold joins Genesis as the new CFO. He has had similar positions... Read More »
Chartwell Retirement Residences Sees Census Slowdown
North of the border, Canada-based Chartwell Retirement Residences has seen a small uptick in its weighted average occupancy rate for its retirement residences, but nothing like what we have seen in the U.S. For Chartwell’s same-community portfolio, occupancy ended July at 76.3%, gained 30 basis points in August and 10 basis points in September, to end the third quarter at 76.7%. But October saw just a 10-basis point increase again to 76.8%, and they are forecasting occupancy to remain there through the end of the year. We have not heard any U.S. companies believing they would remain flat for the rest of the year. Management claims that move-ins have... Read More »
Labor Woes to Continue?
The American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living issued a report last week which showed that the long-term care industry is facing its worst job loss ever, and has not showed any kind of recovery like other healthcare sectors. Industry employment in the nursing home sector has fallen by 14%, a loss of 221,000 jobs, while assisted living employment fell by 8%, a loss of 38,000 jobs during the pandemic. Initially, hospitals saw a huge drop in employment, caused by the sharp reduction in elective surgeries. But it has mostly recovered, and total employment sits at just 1.6% below pre-pandemic levels. Even though that means hospitals are down 86,000... Read More »