• Sonida Senior Living Grows For The Future

    The last to report 2024 earnings in our sector, Sonida Senior Living turned in a decent fourth quarter, but maybe not as good as they were hoping for. They are looking to the future, however, and not past performance, and are gearing up for growth.  While the same-community occupancy of 86.6% in the fourth quarter is certainly above average... Read More »
  • 60 Seconds with Swett: The Demand for SNFs

    We had a fantastic webinar last week that covered our recently published valuation statistics from The Senior Care Acquisition Report but also how valuations, the lending environment and M&A strategies are changing in 2025, so far. Jason Punzel of Senior Living Investment Brokerage, Steve Munn of VIUM Capital and JP LoMonaco of CBRE joined me... Read More »
  • NHI Acquires in New Jersey

    National Health Investors invested $46.3 million, or $386,000 per unit, inclusive of transaction costs, for the acquisition of a seniors housing community in Bergen County, New Jersey. Juniper Village at Paramus comprises 98 assisted living and 22 memory care units. The community has been operated by Juniper Communities since February 2021. The... Read More »
  • Growing Owner/Operator Acquires Illinois SNF/SLF

    Andrew Montgomery of Montgomery Intermediary Group announced a couple of transactions in Illinois and Mississippi. First was for a skilled nursing/supportive living facility in a small, rural Illinois market. The facility features over 130 SNF beds and SLF units and sold to a large owner group that invested alongside a growing owner/operator in... Read More »
  • Berkadia’s Recent Activity

    Berkadia Seniors Housing & Healthcare handled two separate transactions in Michigan and Tennessee. First, Berkadia sold and secured financing for Clinton Creek Assisted Living and Memory Care. The community is in the Detroit MSA and was 90% occupied at closing. It was financed with a bridge-to-HUD loan, representing 67% of the purchase price.... Read More »

Average SNF cap rate falls below 12%

Although in the four quarters ending Q3:15 the average assisted living cap rate rose slightly (5 basis points) and the average independent living fell by just 20 basis points, we saw a much bigger shift in the average skilled nursing facility cap rate, which fell 60 basis points from 12.4% in 2014 to 11.8% in the four quarters ending Q3:15. That is the lowest average SNF cap rate we have seen in any four-quarter period. Conversely, and understandably, the average price per bed for SNF transactions increased by $3,300, for a 4.3% change. So as the quality of facilities sold increases, driven largely by a higher Medicare census, or at least potential for it, and cost of borrowing remains... Read More »

Independent living price continues decline

The average price per unit paid for independent living communities fell to a level not seen since the four quarters ending Q3:13. In the four-quarter period ending September 30, 2015, buyers paid on average $188,200 per unit for independent living. That is a 24% decline from the heights of the calendar year 2014, when the average price paid was $246,800 per unit. In fact, every four-quarter period since then has fallen from that mark. This sharp drop off may be explained by a decline in both portfolio sales, which typically sell for a premium, and in high quality properties, which was the biggest driver behind the 2014 record. Read More »

Average AL price deflates

Have we already seen the mountaintop when it comes to the average price per unit for assisted living sales? After four straight four-quarter periods of an average AL price per unit above $188,500 (topping out at $191,300 per unit in the four quarters ending Q3:14), that average has fallen to $183,600 per unit in the four quarters ending Q3:15. Now, to put that in perspective, the next highest yearly average was in 2012 with $164,000 per unit, so we have by no means plummeted from the peak (no bubble has burst either). But what may be true is that prices may have started falling back to earth a bit, and perhaps the highest quality portfolio sales have, for the most part, already taken... Read More »

Third quarter posts record M&A results

There has never been a busier third quarter for mergers and acquisitions in the history of the seniors housing and care market. In Q3:15, there were a total of 87 publicly announced transactions (including both U.S. deals and a few Canadian deals), a 23% increase over the Q2:15 and a 2% increase over Q3:14. Keep in mind that the NIC Conference began at the end of the third quarter, so we have to assume that press releases on September 30 closings were delayed. The catch is that while the number of transactions has increased, the Q3:15 dollar volume of $4.1 billion is significantly down from last year’s third quarter total of $9.7 billion, a 58% drop. For more details on the third quarter... Read More »

Seniors Housing: Build or Buy?

In this strong seniors housing acquisition market, when does it make sense to build a brand new community or buy an “A” quality community? Based on seniors housing construction projects since 2013 (which includes independent, assisted living and memory care, or some combination of the three), the average cost to build a new project is approximately $209,000 per unit. New construction, of course, comes with certain benefits. You will have a brand-new community with all the bells and whistles that can help attract attention. But you then have to fill it up, staff it and deal with the increasingly potential risk of a competitor opening up down the street. And to buy a stabilized, “A” level... Read More »

A lot of building, but what’s the cost?

Taking a look at the NIC MAP® Construction Monitor as of Q2:15, which examines seniors housing construction in the Top 99 MSAs, we noticed on the AL side there were 22 MSAs with a construction vs. inventory ratio above 10%. If that doesn’t show a frothy development market, then what does? But, what is the cost to build in some of those MSAs? The Sarasota market, which has gotten a good amount of attention for its development pace, has eight assisted living properties under construction, and 893 units, representing a construction vs. inventory ratio of 30.7%. According to our data, which tracks senior living construction projects since 2013, majority-AL communities in the Sarasota market... Read More »