
Seniors Housing Occupancy Hits New Post-Pandemic High
NIC released its latest seniors housing occupancy update for the 31 NIC Map Primary Markets, and fourth quarter 2024 census has hit another post-pandemic occupancy high. Overall seniors housing occupancy rose to 87.2%, up 70 basis points from 86.5% in the third quarter. Separated out by property type, majority-independent living properties were 88.6% occupied in Q4, and majority-assisted living properties were 85.7% occupied. While the Primary markets averaged 87.2%, the 99 Primary and Secondary markets combined averaged 87.7% and the remaining 41 markets to round out the 140 total markets that NIC tracks averaged 88.5%. Overall, occupancy was 87.8% for all 140 markets. The last time... Read More »
Brookdale Q3 Results Disappoint
Historically, and we are going back more than 12 years, the third quarter has been the best quarter of the year for occupancy increases, and usually cash flow increases based on those census jumps. This was certainly the case for Welltower and Ventas this year, the two largest owners of seniors housing communities. Unfortunately, Brookdale Senior Living, which continues to underperform the market and lags these two REITs, leaves investors disappointed and wondering what is wrong. And dare we say disillusioned with management’s forecasts, which have not panned out at all this year. Don’t get us wrong. Occupancy has increased, but not in the way investors expected, and “little” things like... Read More »
SHOP at National Health Investors Outperforms
At National Health Investors, it seems to be all about SHOP, SHOP, SHOP. Although it is a small portfolio at just 15 properties, it is becoming mighty. September’s occupancy was 89.1%, compared with 81.2% a year ago, representing a 790-basis point increase. From July 2023, the increase was 1190 basis points. It is now the highest occupancy portfolio of the major property groups for NHI. The sequential increase from August was 60 basis points. The SHOP NOI increased 30.4% year over year and represents the highest quarterly result since the portfolio’s formation in April 2022. As we have written previously, SHOP portfolios are performing well, and REITs are expanding them. All is not... Read More »
60 Seconds with Swett: October Broke the Monthly M&A Record
For those of us who track the seniors housing and care M&A market, October was like drinking from a firehose from the start of the month to the finish. And an active earnings week kicked things into another gear. We have to start with the 73 deals made public throughout October, which is still a preliminary number that we expect to rise, but also a record for any month, ever. That is just the sixth month ever that has surpassed 60 transactions, and only the second to surpass 70. Annualized, it also equates to 876 deals. We don’t expect that to continue, especially with earnings skewing October’s numbers slightly, but we could be entering a new era of transaction activity. The previous... Read More »