• 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 »

Paying Up for “A” Quality in Independent Living

Last week, we examined what buyers paid for “A” quality assisted living properties versus “B” quality, according to the 22nd Edition of The Senior Care Acquisition Report. But what about independent living, which has not received the same attention that assisted living has in recent years and has not seen as much new construction (which are often categorized as “A” properties). Nevertheless, hitting new heights this year was the average price paid for “A” quality independent living communities. Those properties, which we determine on several factors including age, size and location, sold for an average of $285,800 per unit, or about $8,000 per unit higher than in 2015. “B” properties, on... Read More »

What to Pay For an “A” Quality Assisted Living Community

It is becoming increasingly apparent that there are two separate markets for assisted living properties between those we consider “A” properties and those that are “B” properties. We first separated out these two markets in 2012 (and did so again in our just-published 2017 Senior Care Acquisition Report) based on the properties’ age, size and location, and while there will likely be some “A” communities in with the “B” communities (and the other way around), it all evens out. The difference was stark in 2016, with “A” properties averaging $265,700 per unit, compared with $94,200 per unit for “B” properties. That difference of $171,500 per unit easily beats out 2015’s $110,100 per unit gap... Read More »

Occupancy’s Impact on Skilled Nursing Facility Prices

The skilled nursing industry has experienced consistent declines in average occupancy over the past few years, sinking to a new low of 81.8% in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to NIC’s latest Skilled Nursing Data Report. It should be said that the actual level of occupancy has become less important for skilled nursing facilities because the focus has been centered on short-term-stay patients. Almost by definition, because of the high level of turnover with these patients, and the inability to consistently and constantly fill those beds on discharge, overall occupancy tends to suffer. But since these patients are more profitable than longer stay patients, providers have not worried as... Read More »
The Highs and Lows of Seniors Housing Prices

The Highs and Lows of Seniors Housing Prices

Last week, we examined the difference in price between the low and high ends of the skilled nursing M&A market. As opposed to just using the average or median, breaking down the market by quartile allows us to separate the higher end of the market from the lower end, since many sellers think the average has no meaning to their particular properties that may be newer, in better locations or just more profitable (and often all three). So, what about the seniors housing (independent and assisted living combined) market? Like the overall average seniors housing price in 2016, the upper quartile price in 2016 of $241,500 per unit rose from its 2015 level ($227,900 per unit) and was just off... Read More »
What Are the Memory Care Investors Saying?

What Are the Memory Care Investors Saying?

On March 9th, we hosted a webinar entitled “Building or Buying Memory Care,” with moderator Steve Monroe and panelists Clint Malin of LTC Properties, Mark Myers of Marcus & Millichap, Michael Stoller of LCB Senior Living and Matthew Turner of MorningStar Senior Living. The panelists covered a range of topics (you can listen to the discussion here) including the risks of overbuilding, effectiveness of memory care conversions and fill-up risk, among others. But our audience also chimed in, answering three poll questions throughout the webinar. First, when asked if they would build stand-alone MC, assisted living with MC or stand-alone AL, 60% preferred the mix, 32% would build... Read More »
Memory Care: Buy or Build?

Memory Care: Buy or Build?

Investors in seniors housing have been flocking to the memory care market, as the sector has experienced unprecedented growth since the Great Recession. They are attracted to its need-based demand, higher rents, private payors and apparent dearth in supply in a number of markets (though given the amount of construction in the last few years that is becoming less and less true). But those investors that are interested in getting into or expanding their holdings in this market are faced with a question: do they build memory care, or buy? That is the topic of our upcoming webinar this Thursday at 1PM aptly named, “Buying or Building Memory Care.” Our moderator Steve Monroe and panelists Clint... Read More »