• CBRE’s Active 2025 and Q1:26 Projections

    CBRE’s National Senior Housing team announced its 2025 activity, with $3.1 billion in total transaction volume. Debt originations and equity placements comprised $1.95 billion of that total, and were completed across 25 states. Meanwhile, the investment sales side closed $1.15 billion in deals, selling 27 properties across 14 states. The... Read More »
  • Underperforming AL/MC Assets Sell in Michigan

    A buyer with operational expertise and capital resources acquired two seniors housing communities that were not stabilized at the time of sale. The new owner intends to stabilize performance, implement targeted management improvements and reposition the assets. Current rates are priced below local competitors, offering upside through rate... Read More »
  • Global Real Estate Investor Enters Seniors Housing

    Blueprint revisited a familiar property, selling it on behalf of a joint venture that originally purchased it through another Blueprint-led sales process. The partnership was between a global private equity firm and a seniors housing sponsor, and at the time of its acquisition, the community was struggling. But they renovated all units and common... Read More »
  • LTC Properties Gets Early Start on 2026 SHOP Acquisitions

    LTC Properties started the year off with a large SHOP acquisition in Atlanta, Georgia. The portfolio comprises three seniors housing communities with nearly 400 independent living, assisted living and memory care units. The assets were built between 2014 and 2018, and were stabilized at the time of sale at 92% occupancy. LTC Properties will... Read More »
  • 1019 Senior Living Enters Another State

    1019 Senior Living entered a new state through its fifth seniors housing acquisition. The Indiana-based owner/operator purchased Arden Courts at Kenwood, rebranded as Belle’s Place of Kenwood, which was previously operated by Evergreen Senior Living. Built in 2002 with a new roof added in 2016, the asset sits in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the Kenwood... Read More »

NIC’s Third Quarter Numbers

NIC has come out with its third quarter occupancy, construction, asking rates and absorption stats, and we have to admit, we were disappointed with the numbers, especially on occupancy. Assisted living occupancy was basically flat with the second quarter amid hopes that there might be some acceleration. Independent living rose by just 10 basis points from the second quarter and was flat with a year ago. Asking rents were at their highest in years, but the numbers do not factor in the discounting which remains prevalent in many markets. Now, with Hurricane Matthew about to hit the southeast coast, and communities in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas already beginning to evacuate residents... Read More »

King Cash

When it comes to value, it all comes down to cash flow. For the fourth year in a row, according to the 21st Edition of The Senior Care Acquisition Report, there has been a record level of net operating income per bed purchased in the skilled nursing market. This has been the primary driver of the steady rise in the average price per bed since 2011. At the last market peak in 2007, the average NOI per bed sold was $6,700 and the average price per bed was $55,200. From 2007 until 2015, the average NOI grew to $9,600 per bed, for an increase of 43%, while the average price per bed increased to $85,900, representing a 55% increase. Most nursing facilities have been trying to increase their... Read More »

Lower Expenses, Higher Prices

One would assume that as a skilled nursing facility’s profitability increased, so should its price. And that was indeed the case in 2015, with a perfect correlation between the average price per bed and the expense rate. Facilities with an expense ratio of 90% and over sold in 2015 for an average of $46,000 per bed, while those with expense ratios between 85% and 89% sold for $75,000 per bed on average. The high end of the market, meaning those facilities with expense ratios under 85%, not surprisingly sold for the highest price, averaging $128,100 per bed in 2015. Clearly, well-operating skilled nursing facilities are very attractive to investors in search of a high return, at least when... Read More »

Quantity over Quality?

What is the added cost of purchasing a portfolio of assisted living communities versus single-facilities? That is a question we try to answer in our Senior Care Acquisition Report (now in its 21st Edition). Now, there is no guarantee that a buyer will pay more for a portfolio of properties, but rather, the premium has to do with both the number of properties and the quality. For statistical purposes, we define “portfolio” sales as those sales with three or more properties. Most years, there is a sizeable difference between the average price paid for portfolios compared with smaller purchases. In 2015, we recorded one of the largest premiums in recent years of $47,600 per unit, or a 30%... Read More »

2014, the top-heavy year

As 2015 passed by and 2016 hits the half-way point, we are further reminded of just how extreme a year 2014 was, in terms of seniors housing pricing. This was yet again on display when looking at the price-per-unit spread between stabilized and non-stabilized assisted living properties from 2014 to 2015, according the 21st Edition of The Senior Care Acquisition Report. Stabilized assisted living properties in 2014 sold on average for $230,300 per unit, while non-stabilized properties sold for an average of $139,000 per unit, for a spread of $91,300. However, this spread greatly diminished in 2015 to just $61,500, with stabilized properties averaging $200,600 per unit and non-stabilized... Read More »

The price of empty beds

Not surprisingly, buyers generally pay more for an already stabilized facility, but did the rise in high-acuity sub-acute/transitional care, which can often still be profitable despite an occupancy in the low-80s, lead to a price increase in what we call “non-stabilized” facilities (defined as having an occupancy under 85%)? Well, not in the skilled nursing market. Stabilized facilities saw a slight increase year-over-year, from $94,100 per bed in 2014 to $96,500 per bed in 2015. However, we saw a decrease in the average per-bed price for non-stabilized facilities, from $63,900 in 2014 to $54,300 in 2015. So, the spread between stabilized and non-stabilized grew from $30,200 in 2014 to... Read More »