• 60 Seconds with Swett: The Problem with CMS Interpretive Guidelines

    Just a day after we highlighted the potential downsides of overregulation of assisted living from the federal level, a case of regulatory overreach involving a nursing home just headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District in hopes of overturning a $1.8 million civil monetary penalty. Without getting into the minutiae too much, the... Read More »
  • Kayne Anderson Fund Tops Target

    The familiar refrain continues, with more capital continuing to flow into the seniors housing industry, property prices should keep rising. Kayne Anderson Real Estate, the real estate private equity arm of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, L.P., has closed the largest opportunistic equity fund in its history, at more than 70% above its initial... Read More »
  • Well-Performing Full-Continuum Community Sells

    Blueprint announced its role in the sale of Morningstar at Golden Ridge, a seniors housing community in Peoria, Arizona (Phoenix MSA). Built in 2019, the community has 38 independent living, 65 assisted living and 35 memory care units. It is nearly fully occupied. The community is one of the newest and most well-appointed assets within a... Read More »
  • Kaplan Development Divests to Cedarwood Group

    Cedarwood Group closed its acquisition of Saranac Village at Will Rogers, a 75-unit independent living community in Saranac Lake, New York. The seller was Kaplan Development Group, which took over Will Rogers after the first year of it being open as a senior living community. The community was originally built in 1928 as a Tudor-style... Read More »
  • Omega Welcomes New CEO and CFO

    Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.’s President, Matthew Gourmand will become the REIT’s Chief Executive Officer in conjunction with the planned retirement of Taylor Pickett, effective October 1, 2026. Pickett will also step down from the Board of Directors upon his retirement, and the Board of Directors intends to appoint Gourmand to the Board,... Read More »
Waiting To Sell, Or Buy, Or Lend

Waiting To Sell, Or Buy, Or Lend

If census has indeed bottomed in the senior care industry, investors may still want to wait for several months of sustained growth before buying again. Although “consensus” on anything is dangerous to rely on, it does seem that either we have hit that bottom of the occupancy plunge, and if not, we are very close to it. After a year of turmoil and uncertainty, a rising national occupancy level for seniors housing will be quite a relief. What we are hearing is that some lenders want to see at least three months of consistent, increasing census for their new loans, and we suspect some buyers will want to see that as well. I guess you could say they want to see it before they will believe it.... Read More »
And The Audience Says…

And The Audience Says…

Last week, we hosted a webinar tackling the differences between two classes of seniors housing communities: “A” quality versus “B” quality. Often, buyers and investors of one group do not do much business in the other, so it is worth breaking out the differences in valuation, operations and investment strategies. So, for the last several years in our annual Senior Care Acquisition Report, we have divided seniors housing properties into these categories based on a combination of their age, size and location.   Leading up to the pandemic, prices paid for “A” quality properties were surging as labor and occupancy headwinds seemed to be affecting “B” (and “C”)... Read More »
Waiting To Sell, Or Buy, Or Lend

Is Home Care The Answer?

The move toward more home health is upon us, and it is time for providers to engage. If President Biden’s $2.1 trillion “stimulus” bill goes through, you all have heard about that $400 billion for home and community-based services. Not $400 million, but billion. When nearly 20% of a so-called stimulus package is going towards home and community-based care, well, forgive me for getting nervous.  It is the progressive political/academic/union complex trying to make a major change in care for the elderly, but with borrowed federal funds. We know that Medicaid doesn’t work well for most nursing homes, and that most assisted living providers want to remain private pay. That means there is... Read More »
Senior Care Centers/Abri Health Go Chapter 11

Senior Care Centers/Abri Health Go Chapter 11

On April 16, both Senior Care Centers and Abri Health Services filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. This is the second time in a little more than two years that Senior Care has filed for BK. In March 2020, Senior Care debtors emerged from bankruptcy (great timing), and as part of the reorganization, Abri Health was formed as the parent company of the Senior Care debtors and became a co-tenant and co-obligor with Senior Care under LTC Properties’ master lease.  The master lease includes 11 skilled nursing facilities in Texas with approximately 1,400 beds. LTC’s annualized revenue from the leases is about $15.0 million, representing 9.6% of LTC’s... Read More »
Promising Census Signs From National Health Investors Update

Promising Census Signs From National Health Investors Update

We are still waiting for that first sign that the seniors housing and care recovery has truly begun. There were some encouraging signs from Welltower’s SHOP portfolio when its census started to rise in the later weeks of March. But so far, that is it. Earlier this month, NIC reported that average occupancy at seniors housing communities fell to a new record low in the first quarter, to 78.8% from 80.6% in the fourth quarter.  National Health Investors also recently provided an update regarding its average occupancy and monthly contractual cash collections. Even though the REIT did not report an increase in census at its three major seniors housing operators, the decline has slowed... Read More »
Welltower Census Bottoming Out

Welltower Census Bottoming Out

Usually, a few weeks does not translate into a long-term trend, but for Welltower’s SHOP portfolio, it may just be the case. And it is one we have all been waiting for since it is the largest portfolio in the senior living sector to make some forecasts from.  After plummeting by approximately 1,200 basis points since February 2020, average occupancy has seemed to have bottomed out in March 2021 at 73.7%. The monthly declines in occupancy in the first quarter were already slowing, with March being the best of the pandemic era with just a 10-basis point drop. But for the weeks ended March 12 and March 19, it rested at 73.7%, before rising 20 basis points the next week and 10 the week after... Read More »