Q2 Senior Care M&A Falls To Seven-Year Low
Well, we can’t say we aren’t surprised. COVID-19 and the economic ramifications stemming from social distancing and quarantine measures took a toll on seniors housing and care M&A, leaving the sector with just 59 publicly announced transactions in the second quarter. Back in early April, we said the second quarter’s deal total would be low and wondered if we’d even get to 50 transactions. Even though we did surpass that level, a closer look at the deals reveals an even bleaker market. The decline in activity is made even more stark after an unprecedented level of deal-making in 2019, with 450 total transactions (not including scores more that were... Read More »
Recession Resistant Assisted Living? The Audience Speaks
When the seniors housing industry emerged from the Great Recession, it quickly became apparent that it performed well during that economic downturn, especially when compared against other “real estate” asset classes, and especially the assisted living sub-sector. It became known as “recession resistant,” something that made a lot of investors happy. Now that we have officially entered into the first recession since the Great Recession, we thought it was a good time to talk with industry leaders and get their take on whether assisted living would once again be recession resistant, even though it would be a very different kind of recession. Last week we hosted... Read More »
Seniors Housing Occupancy Slides Further, But Slower
Well, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone, but occupancy levels for stabilized independent living and assisted living continued their drop in the month of May, according to NIC MAP. Across the country’s 31 largest metropolitan areas, assisted living properties first fell by 170 basis points from 87.8% in March (the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic) to 86.1% in April. The sector occupancy fell by a lesser degree in May, by 90 basis points to 85.2%. So, in total, that is a 360-basis point drop for assisted living since the pandemic began. The independent living sector has so far fared better than assisted living, but it also has the benefit of being in a stronger position going... Read More »
National Health Investors: What Pandemic?
It seems that National Health Investors is doing just fine during this pandemic, as are its operators, apparently. The Tennessee-based REIT reported that it has collected 99.7% of its contractual rent in April, 100% in May, and so far, 99.4% in June. That should make shareholders feel pretty good right now. On the occupancy front, excluding communities that have been open less than 24 months, it was not quite as rosy but nothing they can’t handle. For 41 same-community properties operated by Bickford Senior Living, occupancy has dropped 240 basis points, from 86.6% in March to 84.2% in May. The first quarter averaged 87.3%. Senior Living... Read More »
May’s M&A Meltdown
The M&A statistics are in for May, and it was a doozy. Only 19 seniors housing and skilled nursing deals were publicly announced during the month, nearly half of which coming from the first quarter earnings reports of several public companies. Without those, we would have barely made it to double digits. You have to go back to July 2017 for such a low monthly total, when 16 sales were disclosed. Back then, however, the month was followed by a strong August (27 deals) and September (35). We’re not as hopeful for such a comeback this time. Another facet of May’s M&A activity was that nearly all of the deals were either closed in the first quarter or were all-but-completed... Read More »