• 60 Seconds with Swett: Navigating the Next Five Years in Seniors Housing M&A

    Are we entering the golden age of seniors housing? Next year, the first baby boomers will start turning 80, and with the current lack of new construction, occupancy rates are already rising before the real demographic wave hits. Many investors, both veterans and those new to our space, will feel pressure to grow their seniors housing holdings to... Read More »
  • Blackstone Sheds Another Asset from Its Seniors Housing Portfolio

    Blueprint handled a couple of sales in Florida and Nevada. The first in Florida involved a global private equity firm selling a 145-unit assisted living and memory care community in Boca Raton, Florida. Ben Firestone, Dillon Rudy and Jacob Ghel of Blueprint facilitated The Atrium at Boca Raton’s ownership transfer. The community presented certain... Read More »
  • CareTrust REIT Establishes SHOP Platform

    Three Texas seniors housing communities with 270 assisted living and memory care units were acquired by CareTrust REIT, Inc. The publicly traded REIT purchased the communities for $40 million, or $148,100 per unit. This marks the first investment of CareTrust’s SHOP platform. The communities were 86% occupied at the time of acquisition and will... Read More »
  • Ensign Grows Through Separate Transactions in Three States

    The Ensign Group, Inc. increased its portfolio through three separate acquisitions in Kansas, Arizona and Colorado. The publicly traded provider expanded its growing Midwest footprint through its Kansas acquisition of the real estate and operations of Willow Point Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, a 45-bed skilled nursing facility in Kansas... Read More »
  • Developer/Operator Divests to PE Firm

    A developer and operator sold Rivertown Ridge, a Class-A seniors housing community in the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming, Michigan, to a private equity firm. This community, built in 2020, features 152 units of independent living, assisted living and memory care, and has exhibited strong performance.  The seller, Redstone Homes, was... Read More »
Independent Living Prices Drop

Independent Living Prices Drop

Independent living prices dropped in the four quarters ended September 30, 2018, but not as sharply as assisted living did. Buyers paid on average $219,600 per unit for independent living communities, down from a near-record high of $241,300 per unit during the last four-quarter period. Why the smaller drop? The IL market has seen much less development in the space (and has seen more stable average occupancy as a result), and its less staff-intensive model lessens the future labor risks. However, this smaller market is still sharply divided between the luxury, high-rent and high-margin IL communities built in high barrier-to-entry markets, and the more middle-market communities. It’s those... Read More »

What Happened To Assisted Living Prices?

The results are in for our rolling four-quarter averages for assisted living, independent living and skilled nursing sales, and they may surprise you. Assisted living prices, on average, dropped 15% to just $177,600 per unit for the four quarters ended September 30, 2018. That follows six straight quarters with an average price above $208,000 per unit for the sector and represents the lowest level since the second quarter of 2014, when we recorded an average of $162,000 per unit. What happened to the assisted living sector, which has so far seen record levels of M&A activity? In the last 12 months, there not only have been a lower number of very high-priced deals (above $300,000 per... Read More »
Near-Record Third Quarter M&A Volume

Near-Record Third Quarter M&A Volume

Heavy demand continues for properties across the seniors housing and care spectrum. I know I have been a little negative on the market in the past year or so, given all the problems we have seen and written about, not to mention peak pricing a year ago. I am not sure how to take it, but I guess people have not been listening. The acquisition activity continues unabated, with back to back quarters with more than 100 announced acquisitions each. This is a very strong market with heavy demand across the seniors housing and care spectrum. With 102 deals in the third quarter, we have now posted 293 transactions through September 30. That puts us on track for a record year, beating out 2015 as... Read More »
Near-Record Third Quarter M&A Volume

Record-Setting M&A Month

Over the last seven years, August has averaged just 25 acquisitions. We are already 50% above that, and still counting. As the dog days of August come to an end, is there anyone still working away before Labor Day? I have to say, the healthcare M&A market has been quite active this summer. In the seniors housing and care market, we are closing in on a record month of activity. As of yesterday, we have tracked 37 acquisitions in August, equal to the 37-deal record set in 2015 for the month. With a few days left to go, I am confident that we will shatter that record. That means that the private market continues to have a lot more confidence in the industry than the public markets. With... Read More »
Near-Record Third Quarter M&A Volume

Rolling Four Quarters Multiples

It has certainly been a busy year in the M&A market, with transaction volume on pace to top last year’s, according to The Senior Care Acquisition Report. Despite all the headwinds and headline issues, buyers are still very active, and in many cases paying top dollar for the assets they want. The independent living market remains the strongest, with the average price per unit rising to $241,300 for the 12 months ended June 30, 2018, or 5% higher than in calendar year 2017. The average cap rate was 7.2%. The assisted living market, where all the excess development has been, dropped by 5% to $209,100 per unit for the 12 months ended June 30, compared with last year. The average cap rate... Read More »
Second Quarter M&A Soars Above 100 Deals

Second Quarter M&A Soars Above 100 Deals

Boosted by an especially strong April, senior care M&A in the second quarter skyrocketed above 100 transactions for just the second time ever, according to DealSearchOnline. The industry seemed to be in a deal slump over the past year and a half, never surpassing 81 deals in a quarter and falling way off the pace set in 2015 when we recorded 99 deals in Q3:15 and 108 deals in Q4:15, the all-time record. However, this April set the tone for the quarter with 47 deals announced. Activity petered out a bit as the quarter wore on (35 deals in May and just 22 in June), but that could be the effects of the summer lull. Either that, or everyone was deal-ed out by Memorial Day. In the end, we... Read More »