• 60-ish Seconds with Steve Monroe: So, What’s Goin’ On?

    While I did not make it to the NIC Spring Conference last week, my colleagues Ben and Steph were there to meet and greet the record crowd. The crowd included a lot of smiling faces. Some takeaways included the expectation that liquidity is returning and that we will see bigger deals this year. Also, lenders will be putting out more cash in 2025... Read More »
  • Brookdale Bucking Historical Trend

    Brookdale Senior Living announced its February occupancy results, and it was better than we expected. Month-end occupancy has now increased for three straight months since November. At the end of February, occupancy was 80.8%, marking the seventh straight month that it has topped 80%, and up 20 basis points from the end of January. As you know,... Read More »
  • CareTrust’s Recommended Cash Acquisition of Care REIT by Bidco

    CareTrust REIT reached an agreement with the board of directors of Care REIT plc on the terms of a recommended cash offer to be made for the acquisition of Care REIT by CR United Bidco Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CareTrust. CareTrust has agreed to pay 108 pence in cash per ordinary share of Care REIT. Based on the Sterling to Dollar... Read More »
  • Walker & Dunlop Handles California Closing

    In February, Tony Cassie, Brant Nelson and Sam Thompson of Walker & Dunlop facilitated the sale of a seniors housing community in Concord, California. The seller, a joint venture between a local private investor group and Agemark Senior Living, purchased the community in 2018 and conducted extensive renovations while turning around... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Acquires in Georgia

    Senior Living Investment Brokerage handled the sale of a seniors housing community in Dallas, Georgia. The seller was the existing lender that had foreclosed on the asset. Built in 2013, the community comprises 88 assisted living and memory care units, totaling 66,961 square feet across 3.88 acres. It was 65% occupied at the time of sale, and the... Read More »
Brookdale Month-End Occupancy Falls in November

Brookdale Month-End Occupancy Falls in November

The brevity of Brookdale Senior Living’s occupancy update said a lot: there was not much good news to report. After eight consecutive months of increases, month-end occupancy decreased by 20 basis points from 74.5% in October to 74.3% in November. There could be numerous reasons for this, from the Omicron variant to the onset of the flu season to a staffing shortage, but demand clearly did not overcome these factors in the month of November. And these headwinds are not getting better anytime soon. Brookdale expects to continue publishing monthly occupancy through December 2021 reporting, so we could learn whether this decline is a blip or a trend.  Brookdale did... Read More »
NIC Data Shows Slow Occupancy Recovery

NIC Data Shows Slow Occupancy Recovery

According to most recent aggregated NIC data, occupancy in the third quarter rose to 80.1%, after having stagnated in the previous two quarters at 78.7%. It’s great to see this positive movement, but we are still a long way away from pre-pandemic occupancy levels, and we would have hoped to see more growth heading into the holiday and flu season. This average is also not an indicator of how other institutional operators and REITs are performing, or the industry as a whole, but there are just no other comprehensive sector-wide statistics out there. As we reported last month, Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. disclosed a 716-basis point increase in occupancy between February and July 2021. Senior... Read More »
Brookdale Senior Living Issues Occupancy Update

Brookdale Senior Living Issues Occupancy Update

Brookdale Senior Living issued an occupancy update, and the results were positive, but a little muted. The good news is that the company saw occupancy grow 50 basis points from July to August after an 80-basis point increase from June to July. Brookdale does expect another sequential monthly occupancy gain in September 2021, but likely a more moderated rate. The company attributed this to potential residents and their families becoming more cautious or temporarily delaying their decision to move into seniors housing communities in certain areas, as a result of the Delta variant. That shouldn’t surprise many. As of September 22, 2021, approximately 97% of Brookdale’s communities... Read More »
Several Companies Report August Occupancy Gains

Several Companies Report August Occupancy Gains

Several companies have released occupancy updates for the month of August, and there were some mixed results. However, for the most part, these top players reported large basis-point gains over several months, and even between July and August. This consistency among businesses bodes well for a return to normalcy in the skilled nursing and seniors housing industries. After announcing their agreement to provide Recovery Centers of America with a $325 million mortgage loan this week, Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. reported occupancy gains across several of their portfolios. Among their top eight skilled nursing operators, they have seen a 554-basis point increase between late December 2020 to... Read More »
Brookdale Month-End Occupancy Falls in November

Brookdale Senior Living Census Jumps

The census problems at Brookdale Senior Living definitely bottomed out late in the winter of this year. Weighted average occupancy in both February and March was 69.4%, a level at which it is tough to make money. But that has increased by 180 basis points in June to 71.2%, still a low number but moving in the right direction. And it has increased for three straight months at a time when historically the industry sees little occupancy gains.  Occupancy levels at the end of each month have done even better. These bottomed out in February at 70.1% and increased for four straight months, ended June at 72.6% for a 250-basis point increase in four months. Again, this is a time... Read More »
Second Quarter Occupancy Results

Second Quarter Occupancy Results

NIC MAP just released its second-quarter occupancy trends results, and unfortunately, it was not what the industry had hoped for. For the overall seniors housing industry, average occupancy remained flat at 78.7% from the first quarter to the second quarter.   Given the reports of bottoming out by March for several of the large operators and the REITs with large operating portfolios, and strong census increases in April and May, we were a bit surprised that the quarter-to-quarter change was stagnant. We figured maybe at least a 50-basis point increase or higher. The one thing this tells us is that the early spring momentum did not carry over into June. Or possibly it was the... Read More »