• Investment Firm Acquires in Missouri

    Investment firm Lapis Advisers purchased a seniors housing asset out of state receivership in Kansas City, Missouri. The CCRC was distressed, having struggled with COVID-related challenges as well as a limited access to capital in recent years.  Kingswood Senior Living features 185 independent living (65 of which are large duplex cottages),... Read More »
  • Global Investment Firm Sells Community with Strong Momentum

    A global real estate investment firm sold an independent living community in Iowa, engaging Blueprint’s Kory Buzin, Dillon Rudy and Steve Thomes to get the deal done. Built in 2002, the four-story community features 121 units, mostly with two-bedroom options. It appears to be The Arbordale in Urbandale, which was acquired in 2020 by Omaha,... Read More »
  • Large Operator Adds Turnaround Campus to Portfolio

    A senior care campus in Ohio found a new owner with the help of Kiser Group. Set on 26 acres in a rural market east of Cleveland, the property features 76 skilled nursing beds, five assisted living units and three independent living units. It was originally built in 1950 but expanded through multiple additions between 1965 and 2001.  At the... Read More »
  • Texas Skilled Nursing Portfolio Sells

    A portfolio of skilled nursing facilities traded hands in Texas before the end of the year. There are two assets in the Lubbock area and two in Central Texas that are located northwest of Austin. They comprise more than 430 beds, with between 100 to 120 beds at each of the four facilities. Three of the buildings were constructed in the 1970s, and... Read More »
  • CIBC Bank’s Recent Activity

    CIBC Bank USA closed an impressive array of transactions in the last several months, totaling more than $800 million in credit facilities across the country. The largest transaction was an $85 million (with earn-outs) debt package for a senior care portfolio in the Northeast. The debt included a senior term loan and a mezzanine loan to refinance... 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 »
Several Companies Report August Occupancy Gains

Several Companies Report August Occupancy Gains

Several companies have released occupancy updates for the month of August, and there were some mixed results. However, for the most part, these top players reported large basis-point gains over several months, and even between July and August. This consistency among businesses bodes well for a return to normalcy in the skilled nursing and seniors housing industries. After announcing their agreement to provide Recovery Centers of America with a $325 million mortgage loan this week, Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. reported occupancy gains across several of their portfolios. Among their top eight skilled nursing operators, they have seen a 554-basis point increase between late December 2020 to... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living Census Jumps

Brookdale Senior Living Census Jumps

The census problems at Brookdale Senior Living definitely bottomed out late in the winter of this year. Weighted average occupancy in both February and March was 69.4%, a level at which it is tough to make money. But that has increased by 180 basis points in June to 71.2%, still a low number but moving in the right direction. And it has increased for three straight months at a time when historically the industry sees little occupancy gains.  Occupancy levels at the end of each month have done even better. These bottomed out in February at 70.1% and increased for four straight months, ended June at 72.6% for a 250-basis point increase in four months. Again, this is a time... Read More »
Second Quarter Occupancy Results

Second Quarter Occupancy Results

NIC MAP just released its second-quarter occupancy trends results, and unfortunately, it was not what the industry had hoped for. For the overall seniors housing industry, average occupancy remained flat at 78.7% from the first quarter to the second quarter.   Given the reports of bottoming out by March for several of the large operators and the REITs with large operating portfolios, and strong census increases in April and May, we were a bit surprised that the quarter-to-quarter change was stagnant. We figured maybe at least a 50-basis point increase or higher. The one thing this tells us is that the early spring momentum did not carry over into June. Or possibly it was the... Read More »
NIC Data Shows Slow Occupancy Recovery

M&A in May Falls Flat

Despite the positive occupancy news coming out of seemingly every earnings announcement in May, buyers held back this month, announcing just 26 transactions. To be fair, that total beat’s February’s 25 publicly announced transactions (albeit being a 28-day month), and tied January. But it was off of March’s 29-deal tally and April, when a “whopping” 32 deals were announced.   We know that plenty of both buyers and sellers are waiting for a three- to six-month period of sustained occupancy and NOI growth before either risking the purchase or getting the desired price. But with a surge of deals closed at the end of April, we also thought a certain barrier had been broken and... Read More »