• Did Blackstone Sell Too Soon?

    According to recent media reports, real estate investor The Blackstone Group has sold and is in the process of selling about $1.8 billion in seniors housing assets. It wants to completely exit the seniors housing business which they claim has been a disaster for them. One report stated that they have lost upwards of $600 million across the... Read More »
  • Brookdale Continues Winning Streak

    The big question is, why did this not happen earlier? We are talking about Brookdale Senior Living’s occupancy recovery, and why the previous leadership seemed unable to move the needle, but as soon as they were gone, everything has been on an upward trend. Hmmmmm.  Things are not perfect at Brookdale, but they never were. However,... Read More »
  • National Health Investors Adjusts Its SHOP Portfolio

    National Health Investors, Inc. announced some adjustments to its SHOP portfolio, raising its full-year guidance for the third consecutive quarter due to the contribution of recently transitioned and newly acquired SHOP properties, along with continued strength in its investment pipeline. The REIT also had an update on its lease agreement with... Read More »
  • Strawberry Fields’ Three Separate SNF Transactions

    Strawberry Fields REIT, Inc. announced three separate skilled nursing transactions that closed during the third quarter. Two previously announced acquisitions were in Missouri, and the recently announced purchase was in Oklahoma.  In July, the REIT completed the acquisition of nine skilled nursing facilities with 686 beds in Missouri. The... Read More »
  • Receivership Estate Sells in Alabama

    Kory Buzin and Steve Thomes of Blueprint handled another successful sale on behalf of a lender and special servicer, this time involving a receivership estate in Mobile, Alabama. Knollwood Point, a 2001-vintage, 46-unit assisted living and memory care community, struggled in recent years as a result of challenged occupancy and volatile staffing.... Read More »
Dissecting the Jump in Average Assisted Living Values

Dissecting the Jump in Average Assisted Living Values

It’s amazing the difference that one deal can make. We are talking about Welltower’s $1.76 billion sale of its entire Benchmark Senior Living portfolio to KKR and its impact on the average private per assisted living unit sold in the most recent four quarters. That sale, which came in at $425,400 per unit across the 48 properties, pushed the sector’s weighted average up to $252,900 per unit, a 23% increase from the most recent four-quarter period ($205,900 per unit) and 36% from calendar year 2018 ($186,400 per unit), according to The Seniors Housing Acquisition & Investment Report. We should note that this average is likely to change as more deals from 2019 float to the surface, and... Read More »
Independent Living Values Continue Impressive Rise

Independent Living Values Continue Impressive Rise

As the assisted living market is mired in a difficult operating environment, plagued with overdevelopment in some markets, heavy discounting and stubbornly low census, independent living continues to show its resiliency. According the our rolling four-quarter pricing multiples, a product of The Seniors Housing Acquisition & Investment Report, investors paid an average of $272,300 per unit for independent living properties in the last four-quarter period ending this September. That represents a 6% increase from the average of the four quarters ended June 2019 of $257,800 per unit, and a 14% jump from the calendar year 2018 average of $238,100 per unit. So, what could cause such a... Read More »
Skilled Nursing Values Hold Steady

Skilled Nursing Values Hold Steady

The skilled nursing M&A market has continued to surprise us. Despite numerous headwinds, especially involving the rising cost and scarcity of labor as well as the declining lengths of stay and census across the industry, buyers are still flocking to the sector. And as a result, they have kept values steady at just below $80,000 per bed. In the last four quarters ended September 30, skilled nursing facilities sold on average for $78,500 per bed, just slightly higher than the $77,500 per bed average price for 2018, according to The Skilled Nursing Acquisition & Investment Report. We should note this is a preliminary figure, as deals will inevitably float to the surface as the year... Read More »
Good Occupancy News From NIC

Good Occupancy News From NIC

There was some good news on the occupancy front, according the data just released from NIC MAP, but the assisted living sector isn’t out of the woods yet. Sequentially, seniors housing (including independent living and assisted living) saw a 30-basis point increase in occupancy to 88.0% for properties in the top-31 primary metropolitan markets. For primary and secondary markets combined, the increase was slightly more moderate at 20 basis points, sequentially, to 87.8%. When separating out the community types, independent living saw a 20-basis point increase to 90.2%, while assisted living rose 30 basis points to 85.4%. For stabilized seniors housing properties, occupancy grew to 89.8%, a... Read More »
August M&A Hits High Note

August M&A Hits High Note

If you have been following us this summer, you’ll know that after a torrid second quarter when we recorded 113 publicly announced transactions, M&A slowed significantly in July with just 26 deals. Even June was relatively slow with 31 deals, compared with 39 in April and 42 in May. However, similar to last year, the market rebounded yet again in August, with 40 announced acquisitions so far. Inevitably, more acquisitions will be unearthed that should push the total up. Seniors housing deals made up 58% of the monthly total and saw 128 total properties transacted. Brookfield’s acquisition of Australian senior living operator Aveo Group for approximately $860 million was easily the... Read More »
2019 Spending Volume on Track to Beat 2018

2019 Spending Volume on Track to Beat 2018

In total, across the senior care spectrum, nearly $1.9 billion was spent on acquisitions in August, split between $986 million for seniors housing properties and $898 million for skilled nursing. Despite August’s M&A resurgence, that dollar volume falls short of the $2.1 billion spent in June and the $3.2 billion spent in July. It should be noted, however, that deal volume (rather than dollar volume) is a better indicator of the market’s health. Will it continue into September? So far in 2019, investors have already spent over $12 billion on senior care properties, and that’s just in deals with publicly disclosed prices. That puts the sector on good footing to surpass the 2018 total of... Read More »