• Grace Management Adds Five Ventas Communities

    Grace Management expanded its relationship with Ventas, adding five seniors housing communities owned by the REIT to its operating portfolio. The communities were previously managed under a triple-net lease structure. They include Brookdale Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois, Brookdale Northbrook in Northbrook, Illinois, Brookdale Springs Mesa... Read More »
  • Seller Boosts Census Ahead of Sale to JV

    Senwell Senior Investment Advisors sold Rose Hill Retirement Community, a 66-unit, 87-bed assisted living community in Marion, North Carolina. Originally built as a hospital, Rose Hill has been transformed by the seller over the past two decades into a senior care community. After a previous attempt to sell the community was unsuccessful,... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Buys Orange County Community

    A high-end seniors housing community in Orange County sold with the help of CBRE National Senior Housing. Aron Will and John Sweeny represented the joint venture seller in the deal, while Will and Matthew Kuronen arranged acquisition financing from a national bank. The loan came with a four-year term, a full term of interest only and a floating... Read More »
  • Developer Secures Construction Financing

    JLL Capital Markets arranged a $47 million construction financing for The Arbella at Blue Hills, a 164-unit, active adult community to be developed in Bloomfield, Connecticut. JLL worked on behalf of the developer, The United Group of Companies, Inc. (United Group) to secure the construction loan through Liberty Bank of Middletown, Connecticut.... Read More »
  • Midwest-Based Operator Refinances AL/MC Communities

    MONTICELLOAM, LLC, along with firm affiliates, provided a $28.5 million senior bridge financing for two Midwest seniors housing communities. The financing was originated by Karina Davydov, Senior Managing Director, Originations. The sponsor, a Midwest-based operator with a portfolio of over 40 seniors housing and healthcare properties and a... Read More »

Independent living prices fall

When looking at the average price per unit and average cap rates for the 12 months ending March 31, 2015, most everything stayed the same compared to the 2014 calendar year. This is contrary to the fairly consistent rise in prices and fall in cap rates over the last several years. However, two things stood out. First, the average skilled nursing cap rate fell by 20 basis points from 12.4% to 12.2%. And second, the average price per unit for assisted/independent living fell 4.5% from $208,200 to $198,800. Considering the average price paid per unit for assisted living stayed roughly the same (up $200 to $188,900 per unit), that change came largely from a drop in prices for independent... Read More »

The Aging of Skilled Nursing Facilities

The skilled nursing market is clearly aging when facilities 20 years and older make up about 87% of the transactions in 2014. The proportion of facilities sold by age largely depends on the product up for sale that year, but even in 2013, 81% of the sales involved a facility that was built before 1993. That is still a significant percentage, but is not that surprising in the industry. There hasn’t been much new construction of skilled nursing facilities (leaving openings for developers like Mainstreet and Innovative Health). However, average prices reached unprecedented levels despite the older facilities, which may mean that as the market demand increases for facilities with either a... Read More »

Seniors housing prices by quartile

An owner of a new, well-occupied, profitable seniors housing property may look at the average price paid per unit of $208,200 for assisted and independent living communities in 2014 (according to the 2015 Senior Care Acquisition Report) and think it has no meaning to them and their above-average property. They may have a point, so we broke down the market by quartile and separated out the higher end of the market from the lower. Given the higher valuations and number of high-quality properties coming on the market, it should surprise no one that the upper quartile hit a new record with a price of $250,800 per unit (meaning that 25% of the properties sold in 2014 went for prices above this... Read More »

The impact of rising acuity in skilled nursing

The rise in acuity in post-acute care is certainly having its impact in the skilled nursing M&A market. Historically, the range in price per bed for skilled nursing facilities has been approximately $100,00 to $125,000 per bed, according to the 2015 Senior Care Acquisition Report. Every year, there are always sales between $10,000 and $20,000 per bed, with the occasional sale below $10,000 per bed. And there have always been sales above $100,000. But in 2014, while the low price was a typical $9,000 per bed, the high was an astounding $268,500 per bed, resulting in a spread of $259,500. There was also a record number of deals valued over $100,000 per bed, with 19 transactions, which... Read More »

What’s the premium for a stabilized facility?

With the general rise in the average price per bed, both stabilized (which we define as having an occupancy rate at or above 85%) and non-stabilized skilled nursing facilities saw an increase in their average price per bed. But as with assisted living, it was the non-stabilized group that posted the larger increase, with a 27% in the average price per bed, compared to just a 6% increase for stabilized properties. Non-stabilized facilities on average sold for $63,900 per bed in 2014, while stabilized facilities sold for $94,100 per bed, with the overall average coming out to $76,500 per bed. The faster rise in prices for these struggling facilities shows that buyers in today’s market may... Read More »

High prices for struggling AL communities

You know we are in a strong seller’s market when even the non-stabilized properties are worth on average 68% more in 2014 than in 2013. After hovering around $85,000 per unit in 2012 and 2013, the average price paid for non-stabilized assisted living communities (which we define as having an occupancy lower than 85%) in 2014 was about $139,000 per unit, showing that buyers are worrying less about the potential of filling empty rooms. Maybe all this talk about demographics has convinced many buyers that seniors will be knocking on their door in just a matter of time. Read More »