• 60 Seconds with Swett: Sticks and Bricks in ’26?

    The talk around new development is getting a lot more serious in the seniors housing industry, leading us to wonder if our 2024 prediction of “Sticks and Bricks in ‘26” may actually come true, somewhat. Back then, we may have thought that interest rates would have come down a bit more by now, but that the FOMO of getting involved in seniors... Read More »
  • Wyoming SNF Sale Sets New State Record

    There was a new record set for skilled nursing pricing in the state of Wyoming with the sale of Big Horn Rehabilitation and Care Center in Sheridan. Built in the 1960s, the facility features 128 beds and was 61% occupied. It was owned by a regional operator that was looking to recycle capital.  Before the marketing process, Evans Senior... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Acquires Facility Out of Bankruptcy

    A senior care facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, sold as part of a bankruptcy process with the help of Patrick Burke and Toby Siefert of Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Built in 1970, Donna Kay Rest Home features 60 licensed beds in 31 units, providing a higher level of care and supervision than assisted living but at a lesser acuity than... Read More »
  • Civitas Sells Community to Clarion

    Hap Knowles and Nick Stahler of the Knapp-Stahler Group at Institutional Property Advisors announced that they led the sale of a seniors housing community in the Phoenix, Arizona MSA, to the fast-growing real estate investment firm Clarion Partners. The deal appears to be The Retreat at Alameda, a 110-unit assisted living/memory care community in... Read More »
  • Blueprint Handles Recapitalization

    Blueprint handled the recapitalization of Forest Hills Commons, a 2017-developed, 119-unit assisted living/memory care community in the Louisville, Kentucky MSA. A Louisville-based senior living owner/operator/developer engaged Blueprint in the third quarter of 2025 to begin the process. The asset demonstrated strong in-place performance and... Read More »

Assisted Living Commands a Portfolio Premium in 2017

Every year in our Senior Care Acquisition Report, we try to determine what a market “portfolio premium” would be for assisted living communities, with a portfolio including three or more properties. However, just because there is a portfolio of properties, it doesn’t always mean that the buyer will pay more for them. The premium has to do with both the number of properties as well as the quality. In most years, there is a sizable difference in the average price per unit for portfolios compared with smaller purchases. In 2016, we recorded a drop in the premium to $45,700 per unit, or a 4% drop from 2015’s $47,600 per unit premium. Both premiums fall short of the record ($69,000 per unit in... Read More »

The Price of Empty Units in Assisted Living

When comparing stabilized and non-stabilized assisted living communities (with stabilized defined as having an occupancy equal to or higher than 85%), there is a clear difference in the price per unit, according to the 2017 Senior Care Acquisition Report. The gap between stabilized and non-stabilized properties grew year over year from $61,500 per unit in 2015 ($139,100 per unit for non-stabilized and $200,600 per unit for stabilized) to $87,200 in 2016 ($147,700 per unit for non-stabilized and $234,900 per unit for stabilized). That does not surpass the disparity recorded in 2014, however, when stabilized properties sold for $230,300 per unit compared with just $139,000 per unit for... 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 »