• Bullish Move by Welltower

    Welltower has been a growth and M&A machine under the leadership of Shankh Mitra. As of October 27, the REIT has closed or has under contract close to $14 billion of pro rata gross investments across the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom this year. These include more than 700 seniors housing properties with more than 46,000 units. Not too... Read More »
  • Welltower Shatters Single-Day Dollar Volume Record

    October was already on its way to setting records for M&A activity in the seniors housing and care industry before Welltower announced the most transaction dollar volume we have ever seen in a single day when it released its third quarter earnings. A couple of the largest portfolio acquisitions took place across the pond, but the REIT also... Read More »
  • South Carolina Portfolio Trades

    Newmark has hit a rich vein of activity, announcing several closings in the last few days. First, the team sold three communities across the Greenville, South Carolina, area on behalf of Atlas Senior Living. The communities were built between 2014 and 2016 and totaled 306 units, including 108 independent living, 144 assisted living and 54 memory... Read More »
  • Blueprint Closes in Kentucky and Colorado

    Blueprint has been adding to our record-breaking October M&A haul, announcing a couple of closings in the last week. First, Kyle Hallion handled another sale in his home state of Kentucky, this time on behalf of a local family owner/operator with deep ties to this asset’s local market. The senior care facility features 64 skilled nursing beds... Read More »
  • Southern California Communities Get New Owner

    Berkadia handled the sale and financing of two seniors housing communities in Southern California. The transaction included an 84-unit assisted living and memory care community in the San Diego suburbs and a 72-unit memory care community in the Los Angeles suburbs. These were older vintage properties with some Medicaid census but were very strong... Read More »
National Health Investors: What Pandemic?

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

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 »
Skilled Nursing Values Were Strong Before COVID-19

Skilled Nursing Values Were Strong Before COVID-19

Leading up to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, skilled nursing facilities were going through their own challenges of falling census and shortening lengths of stay, low Medicaid reimbursement, aging physical plants, a labor squeeze and the possibility of a CMS correction after the implementation of PDPM. What some wouldn’t give to go back to those kinds of problems. However, values were near an all-time high, averaging $93,000 per bed in 2019 according to the 25th Edition of The Senior Care Acquisition Report, and falling slightly to an average of $92,800 per unit in the four quarters ended March 2020.   That high average was the result of investors acquiring... Read More »
Where Will Independent Living Values Go?

Where Will Independent Living Values Go?

Here’s the good news and the bad news regarding the independent living market today. The good news is that the fundamentals of the sector were stronger than ever as recent as this March, with values nearing a peak, occupancy consistently above 90% nationally, rents staying strong, and the labor problems largely avoiding IL communities. The bad news is that move-ins may be delayed for months, a recession may make selling and moving out of one’s home (and into an IL community) less feasible, and the socialization benefit of these communities may change significantly for some time.   Anecdotally, we do hear of move-ins continuing at a steady pace, depending on the locality and... Read More »
Where Were Assisted Living Values At Their Pre-Pandemic Peak?

Where Were Assisted Living Values At Their Pre-Pandemic Peak?

Seniors housing values were at (or very close to) a peak by the beginning of March. Then, COVID-19 shut down the country, and those communities were forced to shut their doors, halt move-ins, and deal with the pandemic and their residents as best they could. Keeping those seniors safe and healthy is, of course, the first priority. But the drop in occupancy and cash flow is also a serious matter (how else can these communities stay open to care for seniors if they are not profitable, after all?) and may lead to a correction in values.   Just how large of a correction, we cannot be sure, but we do know where values were right before the pandemic hit. According... Read More »
Where Will Independent Living Values Go?

Q1 M&A Activity Falls Below 100 Deals

For the first time since the first quarter of 2018, quarterly seniors housing and care deals dropped below 100 in Q1:2020, to 93 deals. Averaging 31 deals per month is not too shabby, but compared with the red-hot M&A market of 2019, when 450 deals were publicly announced and likely over 600 were actually completed, it is a significant decline. Not surprisingly, the COVID-19 pandemic had a large part to play in the slowdown, but not as much as you may think in the first quarter. After all, large swaths of the U.S. economy were not shut down until mid-March, and deals that closed after that were all-but-completed by the time businesses shut their doors. They just needed a little nudge... Read More »