• Receivership Sale of Standalone Memory Care Community Closes

    Senior Living Investment Brokerage’s Southeast closings continued with the sale of Westminster Memory Care in Lexington, South Carolina. Built in 2020, the Class-A community features 48 units of memory care and high-end finishes. It is set on 6.3 acres, which provides an opportunity for expansion under new ownership. Also, at the time of the... Read More »
  • Active Adult Community Secures Freddie Mac Refinance

    An active adult community in Hurst, Texas, paid off its existing bank debt with a Freddie Mac refinance arranged by Berkadia. Heritage Village Residences was built in 2014 with 120 units, including 10 cottages. It was part of multiple acquisitions over the years, first in 2020 when Edison Equity Management Corporation bought it for $23.3 million... Read More »
  • Upstate NY Seniors Housing Community Trades

    Kory Buzin and Steve Thomes of Blueprint facilitated the sale of a seniors housing community in upstate New York that stakeholders were divesting to take advantage of positive performance trends and a strong M&A market. The Legacy at Cranberry Landing, a 95-unit independent living, assisted living and memory care community in Rochester, was... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing Investment Vehicle Acquires First Asset

    Focus Healthcare Partners acquired Bellingham at West Chester, a 274-unit seniors housing community in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The investment is Focus’ first for its newest investment vehicle, Focus Senior Housing Fund III. The property sits on an 11.8-acre site 20 miles west of downtown Philadelphia. It comprises 208 independent living, 50... Read More »
  • Management Transfer Includes Purchase Option

    A senior care campus in Waterloo, Illinois, secured a new operator thanks to Ray Giannini of Marcus & Millichap. Featuring 144 skilled nursing beds and 50 independent living units, Oak Hill – Senior Living and Rehabilitation Center was well occupied with a strong quality mix. It was owned by Monroe County, which wanted to retain the... Read More »
How Occupancy Impacted 2018 Assisted Living Values

How Occupancy Impacted 2018 Assisted Living Values

As we’ve mentioned several times, 2018 was a tough year for assisted living occupancy, as new development took its toll on a number of markets. Low occupancy often leads to lower operating margins and less cash flow, especially when operators feel the need to heavily discount their rates in order to fill beds, so it’s a serious issue for the industry. In our Seniors Housing Acquisition & Investment Report, “stabilized” means having an occupancy equal to or higher than 85%. And while there are some operators not pleased with their “stabilized” communities occupied in the 80s, it could be worse, and there was clearly a premium paid for existing census in 2018. Stabilized communities sold... Read More »
Older, Struggling SNFs Had More Weight In 2018 Market

Older, Struggling SNFs Had More Weight In 2018 Market

We have historically presented our cap rate analysis on an unweighted average basis, weighting the cap rate for a 60-bed skilled nursing facility and a portfolio of 20 facilities the same in our Skilled Nursing Acquisition & Investment Report (which you can still order here). Many buyers believe that a portfolio should command a lower cap rate than a single-asset sale, but that often depends on the quality of the portfolio and whether there are any stinkers in the portfolio. A weighted average cap rate thus removes this bias. What this has shown is that over time since we started separating out these two averages is that there has been very little difference between the two cap rate... Read More »
The ABCs of the Independent Living Market

The ABCs of the Independent Living Market

For some years now, we have separated out the assisted living and independent living M&A markets into a couple of quality-based categories, classified as “A,” “B,” and “C” properties. The determination is made by the property’s age, location and size, and there are always going to be some properties that can fit into either category. But they should balance out in the end. Some owners of “A” properties do not believe it is an apples-to-apples comparison between the quality of their communities and “B” and “C” communities in general, and probably vice versa. That is because the rates that “A” communities can charge and the margins they can operate at often exceed those of “B” and “C”... Read More »
Does Size Matter in Seniors Housing?

Does Size Matter in Seniors Housing?

Last week, we took a look at the relationship between the size of the skilled nursing facility and the price it sold at, according to statistics from our just-published Skilled Nursing Acquisition & Investment Report. And like skilled nursing facilities, the larger the seniors housing property, the higher price paid for it, generally. That is because larger institutional properties can take advantage of scale to boost cash flow and thus its value. In addition, the majority IL communities tend to be large and IL has commanded high prices in most years. There are indeed smaller “boutique” memory care communities that can command a high per-unit price because of the rents they can charge... Read More »
Did Skilled Nursing Investors Pay for Size in 2018?

Did Skilled Nursing Investors Pay for Size in 2018?

The skilled nursing market has been going through many changes in recent years as it adapts to new reimbursement policies, shorter lengths of stay and more medically-complex patients. But did all of that affect what buyers will pay for size in 2018? Well, according to the 2019 Skilled Nursing Acquisition & Investment Report (available soon), there was a perfect correlation between size of nursing facility sold and the average price per bed for the second year in a row. Historically, larger facilities have commanded the higher prices because of their ability to scale, lower the per patient costs and fill beds with Medicaid patients at will. However, those advantages may soon backfire... Read More »
What Happened To Assisted Living Prices?

What Happened To Assisted Living Prices?

The assisted living sector fell back to earth in 2018 and dragged the rest of the seniors housing sector with it, according to the soon-to-be-published Seniors Housing Acquisition & Investment Report. Following three successive years of steady increases and a record-high price per unit in 2017 of $221,250, assisted living properties sold on average for just $186,400 per unit in 2018, a 15.8% decline. What could have happened in only a year to cause such a fall? Partially, it was because the share of communities with either 100% or some component of memory care units (which are usually valued higher for their higher rents and more need-based residents) fell from 70% of all communities... Read More »