• Ventas Posts Healthy Q3 With Robust Acquisition Activity

    Among the earnings results trickling out this month, it will be impossible to overshadow Welltower’s announcement with $14 billion in new investment activity and another great quarter of seniors housing operating portfolio (SHOP) performance improvements. But Ventas reported healthy results, too, and some significant acquisition volume.  Ventas... Read More »
  • Senior Care Campus Components Sell to Separate Buyers

    Senwell Senior Investment Advisors facilitated two separate transactions involving the assisted living and skilled nursing components of a senior care campus in Mansfield, Ohio. The seller, a local not-for-profit, faced significant operational and financial challenges, prompting an urgent need for a transition. Senwell was engaged to identify... Read More »
  • Skilled Nursing Portfolio Secures Funds

    MONTICELLOAM, LLC announced that the firm, along with firm affiliates, funded $48.10 million in combined bridge and working capital funding for a three-facility skilled nursing portfolio in North Carolina. The transaction included a $45.6 million bridge financing and a $2.5 million working capital line of credit. The borrower, a returning client,... Read More »
  • Autumn Lake Healthcare Acquires Maryland SNFs

    First Citizens Bank’s Healthcare Finance business provided $338 million in financing to affiliates of Autumn Lake Healthcare for the acquisition of 12 Maryland skilled nursing facilities with over 1,500 beds. Based in Howell, New Jersey, Autumn Lake Healthcare’s portfolio includes 66 skilled nursing facilities totaling more than 8,200 beds... Read More »
  • Central Florida Portfolio Secures Financing

    Grace Hill Capital, a seniors housing capital advisory firm founded by Adam Shealy, closed a refinance and recapitalization of a four-community independent living, assisted living and memory care portfolio in Central Florida. The portfolio comprises five buildings totaling 257 units, operated by a regional provider with a proven record of... Read More »
Sabra Issues Business Update

Sabra Issues Business Update

This difficult winter is sparing few owners and operators in terms of occupancy and labor expenses. So, Sabra Health Care REIT was not alone in its latest quarterly earnings report, and in fact, things could have been worse. First, Sabra entered into a definitive agreement to amend its master lease with Avamere, effective February 1. This reduced annual based rent by roughly 30% to $30.7 million, or an annual run rate reduction of $0.06 per diluted common share. As a condition to the amendment, Avamere has paid past due rent for December 2021 totaling $3.6 million and has agreed to pay January 2022 rent totaling $3.7 million by March 25, 2022. Sabra does have the opportunity to recapture... Read More »
Ventas Announces Q4 Earnings

Ventas Announces Q4 Earnings

Ventas announced its quarterly and annual earnings report, and we were interested to learn that the REIT has acted on nearly two-thirds of its seniors housing portfolio via acquisition, disposition, development, lease resolution or operator transaction since 2020. The pandemic spared few communities, so that level of portfolio management really required all hands on deck. And the pain isn’t over for many properties, unfortunately, with more distress almost certainly set to hit the market in 2022. That will mean even more dispositions, value-add acquisitions and lease/operator restructurings from Ventas.  Activity in 2021 included nearly $2.6 billion in acquisitions of independent... Read More »
The Ensign Group Reports Another Solid Quarter

The Ensign Group Reports Another Solid Quarter

The Ensign Group did not disappoint yet again with its latest quarterly results. The senior care provider reported an increase in GAAP diluted earnings per share of $3.42 for 2021, an increase of 11.8% over the prior year, while adjusted EPS rose 16.3% year over year to a record-high $3.64. Consolidated GAAP revenues increased by 9.5% to $2.6 billion in 2021, with GAAP net income reaching $194.7 million for the year, an increase of 14.2% compared with 2020. Those are all healthy increases in a year of numerous operational headwinds, with large companies especially susceptible to high employee turnover and stagnant census. That is the beauty of the decentralized operating model that Ensign... Read More »
Ventas Announces Q4 Earnings

Brookdale Month-End Occupancy Falls in November

The brevity of Brookdale Senior Living’s occupancy update said a lot: there was not much good news to report. After eight consecutive months of increases, month-end occupancy decreased by 20 basis points from 74.5% in October to 74.3% in November. There could be numerous reasons for this, from the Omicron variant to the onset of the flu season to a staffing shortage, but demand clearly did not overcome these factors in the month of November. And these headwinds are not getting better anytime soon. Brookdale expects to continue publishing monthly occupancy through December 2021 reporting, so we could learn whether this decline is a blip or a trend.  Brookdale did... Read More »
NIC Data Shows Slow Occupancy Recovery

NIC Data Shows Slow Occupancy Recovery

According to most recent aggregated NIC data, occupancy in the third quarter rose to 80.1%, after having stagnated in the previous two quarters at 78.7%. It’s great to see this positive movement, but we are still a long way away from pre-pandemic occupancy levels, and we would have hoped to see more growth heading into the holiday and flu season. This average is also not an indicator of how other institutional operators and REITs are performing, or the industry as a whole, but there are just no other comprehensive sector-wide statistics out there. As we reported last month, Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. disclosed a 716-basis point increase in occupancy between February and July 2021. Senior... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living Issues Occupancy Update

Brookdale Senior Living Issues Occupancy Update

Brookdale Senior Living issued an occupancy update, and the results were positive, but a little muted. The good news is that the company saw occupancy grow 50 basis points from July to August after an 80-basis point increase from June to July. Brookdale does expect another sequential monthly occupancy gain in September 2021, but likely a more moderated rate. The company attributed this to potential residents and their families becoming more cautious or temporarily delaying their decision to move into seniors housing communities in certain areas, as a result of the Delta variant. That shouldn’t surprise many. As of September 22, 2021, approximately 97% of Brookdale’s communities... Read More »