• 60 Seconds with Swett: Sticks and Bricks in ’26?

    The talk around new development is getting a lot more serious in the seniors housing industry, leading us to wonder if our 2024 prediction of “Sticks and Bricks in ‘26” may actually come true, somewhat. Back then, we may have thought that interest rates would have come down a bit more by now, but that the FOMO of getting involved in seniors... Read More »
  • Wyoming SNF Sale Sets New State Record

    There was a new record set for skilled nursing pricing in the state of Wyoming with the sale of Big Horn Rehabilitation and Care Center in Sheridan. Built in the 1960s, the facility features 128 beds and was 61% occupied. It was owned by a regional operator that was looking to recycle capital.  Before the marketing process, Evans Senior... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Acquires Facility Out of Bankruptcy

    A senior care facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, sold as part of a bankruptcy process with the help of Patrick Burke and Toby Siefert of Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Built in 1970, Donna Kay Rest Home features 60 licensed beds in 31 units, providing a higher level of care and supervision than assisted living but at a lesser acuity than... Read More »
  • Civitas Sells Community to Clarion

    Hap Knowles and Nick Stahler of the Knapp-Stahler Group at Institutional Property Advisors announced that they led the sale of a seniors housing community in the Phoenix, Arizona MSA, to the fast-growing real estate investment firm Clarion Partners. The deal appears to be The Retreat at Alameda, a 110-unit assisted living/memory care community in... Read More »
  • Blueprint Handles Recapitalization

    Blueprint handled the recapitalization of Forest Hills Commons, a 2017-developed, 119-unit assisted living/memory care community in the Louisville, Kentucky MSA. A Louisville-based senior living owner/operator/developer engaged Blueprint in the third quarter of 2025 to begin the process. The asset demonstrated strong in-place performance and... Read More »
Brand-New Tampa Development Sells To PE Group

Brand-New Tampa Development Sells To PE Group

The team of Allen McMurtry, Paul Carr and David Kliewer of Cushman & Wakefield helped a development collaboration successfully sell its two-year old assisted living/memory care community in the Tampa, Florida area. Gulf Coastal Development and Rookis Development (along with operator Watermark Retirement Communities) have a history of teaming up to develop other senior living communities, in addition to other product types throughout the country. Developed at an approximate cost of $19 million, or around $200,000 per unit, this project in the high-growth Tampa submarket of Trinity opened in July 2016 and quickly surpassed 95% occupancy. In its three stories, it features 67 assisted... Read More »
National Health Investors Invests in Michigan

National Health Investors Invests in Michigan

National Health Investors entered into a new relationship in Michigan, after acquiring a pair of assisted living communities from, and leasing them back to, affiliates of Comfort Care Senior Living. The targets were built in the last five years around Saginaw, Michigan, and include a 51-unit assisted living/memory care community in Bridgeport and a 53-unit AL/MC community in Thomas Township. National Health Investors bought the properties for $17.1 million, or about $164,400 per unit, with a cap rate just below 9% based on estimated EBITDA, and leased them to Comfort Care at an average yield of 8.1% with CPI-based escalators. NHI also obtained a purchase option on two additional... Read More »
Skilled Nursing Prices Slide Up With Size

Skilled Nursing Prices Slide Up With Size

There was a perfect correlation between size of skilled nursing facility sold and the average price per bed in 2017. In general, the smaller the nursing facility, the lower the price, and the larger the facility the higher the price. In 2016, the correlation existed except average prices declined for those facilities over 180 beds in size, according to the 23rd Edition of The Senior Care Acquisition Report. In today’s market those nursing facilities with fewer than 80 beds usually command the lowest average price. In 2017, that average price was just $53,750 per bed, down 13.5% from 2016. There was a significant percentage jump in average price for those facilities with between 80... Read More »
Capital One Closes Holiday Transaction

Capital One Closes Holiday Transaction

Holiday Retirement recapitalized two of its seniors housing communities with a single $65 million adjustable-rate loan provided by Capital One. One community, with 241 independent living units, plus a separate wing with 12 assisted living units that is managed by Superior Home Care, is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The other, with 159 IL and AL units was built in 1989. The loan amount comes to about $157,700 per unit. With this transaction (one of many between Holiday and Capital One over the years), Holiday will be able to add other assets to the loan in the future. Read More »
Lenders and Investors Need To See

Lenders and Investors Need To See

With so much capital flooding the senior care space, lenders and investors need a better appreciation of what it is they are funding. People like to say that the seniors housing and care industry is driven by demographics, but for the past few years it has been driven by cheap and abundant capital. But to buy it or build it “because I can,” while maybe rational in the moment, does not make long-term sense and usually leads to future problems. So here is my recommendation. For every new lender or investor you have, ask them to do an 8-hour shift in one of your buildings, and I mean doing the dirty work, not just shadowing an employee. First of all, they will have a new appreciation for how... Read More »
The Sabra-Genesis Sales Keep On Coming

The Sabra-Genesis Sales Keep On Coming

Many of Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors’ closings this year have featured a publicly traded REIT divesting skilled nursing facilities (a theme in the past year), which was yet again the impetus for its latest deal. Christopher Hyldahl, Ben Firestone, Gideon Orion and Michael Segal worked on behalf of Sabra Health Care REIT to sell a portfolio of 12 skilled nursing facilities in New Hampshire (7) and Florida (5). The deal is part of Sabra’s strategy to reduce its exposure to Genesis Healthcare. Another tranche of 20 properties in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio sold earlier this year (also handled by Blueprint) for $103.3 million, or about $55,400 per bed. Now, Sabra has thrown off 12... Read More »
Cash Flow Pushes Up Seniors Housing Prices

Cash Flow Pushes Up Seniors Housing Prices

Many buyers prize a community’s cash flow over many other factors when looking for relatively safe investments that can provide returns to their capital providers. The past three years haven’t reached the record set in 2014 of $14,200 per unit, but in a year where the average price per unit for seniors housing (independent and assisted living) increased, it makes sense that NOI per unit would increase in turn. Driving the NOI per unit up to the $14,200 per unit mark was the assisted living sector, which accounted for 23 of the top 25 recorded values, and very high NOI per unit results, per the latest Senior Care Acquisition Report. The improved existing cash flow seems to have outweighed... Read More »
Greystone Closes Sale in Sunny Southern California

Greystone Closes Sale in Sunny Southern California

Mike Garbers and Cody Tremper of Greystone Real Estate Advisors headed to Palm Springs, California for their latest sale, representing a publicly traded REIT in the disposition. Built nearly 20 years ago, the property featured four 15-unit assisted living cottages and two 15-unit memory care cottages, for a total of 90 units. It had a history of strong occupancy, which the new owner, an operator with local market presence, will hope to build on. The purchase price was not disclosed. Read More »
Griffin-American Shows Its Strength In The Show-Me State

Griffin-American Shows Its Strength In The Show-Me State

After a busy Spring growing its medical office building portfolio, Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV jumped back into the senior care M&A market to acquire eight skilled nursing facilities in Missouri, at a price of $88.2 million, or $79,300 per bed. The portfolio, comprising 1,112 licensed beds, is well performing and will be leased under a 15-year absolute net lease with two 10-year renewal options and CPI-based rent escalators with a floor of 2% and a cap of 3%. Griffin-American also diversifies its geography and asset class with the deal. Its last senior care deal was on the small side (a $22.6 million acquisition of two Wisconsin properties announced in March 2018), but 2017 was... Read More »
Cash Is King For Skilled Nursing Targets

Cash Is King For Skilled Nursing Targets

When buyers value a skilled nursing facility, or any senior living property, it is always the absolute level of cash flow (NOI) that matters, not the operating margin or expense ratio. Buyers are purchasing a stream of net cash flow, and that net cash flow is going to provide the returns to capital providers. As long as cap rates remain stable, which they certainly have in the skilled nursing sector, when cash flow increases, the prices paid increase. From 2008 to 2015, the average cash flow per bed of SNFs sold increased by 63% (peaking in 2015 at $9,600 per bed), and this was driving the five straight years of record average prices for skilled nursing facilities, according to the 23rd... Read More »
Capital One Refinances Newly Expanded Assisted Living Community

Capital One Refinances Newly Expanded Assisted Living Community

After acquiring and expanding a 59-unit assisted living/memory care community in Nacogdoches, Texas, the time had come for its owners to refinance, with the help of Capital One. Originally built with 36 assisted living units in 1996, the community was previously owned by RWS Healthcare, a portfolio company of private equity firm Windward Health Partners. But in May 2015, Prevarian Senior Living stepped in to buy the property for an estimated $130,000 per unit, and hired Civitas Senior Living to operate it. The community was about 93% occupied at the time but there was additional land for expansion, which Prevarian took advantage of to build 23 more units, including an 11-unit/16-bed memory... Read More »