• 60 Seconds with Swett: M&A Activity Tops 350 Deals in H1:25

    In the second quarter of 2025, there were 176 publicly announced transactions, a preliminary number that is almost certain to increase in the weeks ahead. That brings our total for the first half of the year to 355 deals, or 710 on an annualized basis. Considering we finished 2024 with 716 total deals, which was a record by far, we are in a good... Read More »
  • Bloom Exits South Carolina’s Seniors Housing Market

    Kandu Capital, LLC, and its operating company, Bloom Senior Living, collectively known as Bloom, sold its final seniors housing community in South Carolina. The company is seeking realignment as it exits the state after a decade-long presence in the region. The 129-unit independent living and memory care community, which is in Bluffton, sold for... Read More »
  • Improving Ohio SNF Sees Strong Price

    Ryan Saul of Senior Living Investment Brokerage secured a strong price for a skilled nursing facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. Built in 1965, the facility was originally licensed for 199 beds, but the decision was made to strategically reduce the beds to 167 to save on provider tax and improve the Medicaid rate.  The facility struggled for many... Read More »
  • Stacked Stone Ventures Makes Major SNF Acquisition

    Stacked Stone Ventures, a real estate investment firm founded by Kent Eikanas, has made a major acquisition in the skilled nursing sector, acquiring nine skilled nursing facilities for approximately $33 million, or $66,000 per bed, at a 13% cap rate. Stacked Stone bought the portfolio in a joint venture with Praxis Capital from a large... Read More »
  • Tremper Capital Group Announces Two Refinances

    Tremper Capital Group announced a couple of refinances at the end of the second quarter for seniors housing clients. The first was arranged on behalf of Kisco Senior Living for its 333-unit entrance-fee CCRC in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Built in 2004, the campus was acquired by Kisco as part of a larger CCRC deal in 2013, and since then it... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living Does Not Renew Leases

Brookdale Senior Living Does Not Renew Leases

LTC Properties announced that Brookdale Senior Living finally decided not to renew leases on 35 assisted living communities with 1,471 units in eight states. Most, if not all, of these properties came to Brookdale as part of its 2005 acquisition of Alterra Healthcare Corporation. Eight years before, Alterra had merged with Sterling House, a company founded by Steven Vick in 1991, and we believe these are some of the original Sterling House communities, which tended to be on the small side. This group of properties is one of the largest in LTC Properties’ portfolio, representing about 8.4% of cash rent. Brookdale has been current on all lease payments, and the leases actually do not expire... Read More »
Sabra Health Care REIT Sees Occupancy Increases

Sabra Health Care REIT Sees Occupancy Increases

Sabra Health Care REIT is still working through some portfolio issues, like every other REIT, and it will take until at least next year to wind through them. But from an occupancy perspective, at least with its largest segments, things are looking up. And the transition of 20 additional skilled nursing facilities to The Ensign Group is now complete, bringing the total operated by Ensign to 31 buildings representing 8.5% of annualized NOI. This is important because not only is Ensign one of the strongest SNF operators in the country, but its EBITDARM coverage with Sabra is 1.69x. Also not too shabby from a financial perspective is Avamere Family of Companies, which now leases 29 SNFs from... Read More »
Brookdale Fourth Quarter Delights Investors

Brookdale Fourth Quarter Delights Investors

We were hoping that maybe, just maybe, Brookdale Senior Living would post a “breakout” fourth quarter earnings report. They didn’t. But the alternative, a negative surprise, did not happen either. Phew. We have to hand it to CEO Cindy Baier, who always sounds so confident, positive, mission-directed and knowledgeable, whether on stage or on an earnings call. You almost want to hug her after she presents. Perhaps that is why the Board continues to support her. The problem is that shareholders have not bought into her and the company’s performance, which is demonstrated in the share price, which remains in the doldrums. However, shareholders may be beginning to buy into the message, or at... Read More »
Brookdale Fourth Quarter Delights Investors

LTC Properties Reports

LTC Properties reported fourth quarter and full year 2022 earnings, and other than the large new joint venture (previously announced), the big news was that tenant Anthem repaid $1.5 million of temporary rent reduction and paid $900,000 of monthly rent in the fourth quarter. As a result, Anthem has now paid the full rent for 2022, which is a bit of a relief. The REIT is still not out of the woods as other tenants are still recovering slowly, but at least they can see through to the clearing. However, coverage ratios still need to increase. Assisted living EBITDARM and EBITDAR coverage was 1.02x and 0.80x, respectively, in the third quarter (lease information lags by a quarter), but was... Read More »
2022 M&A Results and Valuation Statistics

Welltower’s SHOP Communities Perform

Following fourth quarter earnings from Ventas, Welltower also posted solid gains in its SHOP portfolio, both sequentially and year over year. On a same-community basis, Welltower’s 654 communities posted a 20-basis point sequential increase in occupancy and a 200-basis point increase year-over-year to 79.1%. Now, while we are sure management would like to see the final year-end numbers higher, and getting over 80% (if not 85%) is crucial, the slowdown in the fourth quarter does not bode well for the first quarter this year. At least this year’s flu season has not been as bad as previously forecast by the media. The same-community net operating income increased 6.3% sequentially, but at a... Read More »