• Omega Beats Estimates

    Omega Healthcare Investors released its second quarter results, beating estimates and demonstrating resilience amid the bankruptcy of Genesis Healthcare, one of the largest skilled nursing operators in the country. The REIT reported AFFO of $0.77 per common share, which was above the estimate of $0.75. Revenue also came in higher than expected,... Read More »
  • Private Equity Firm Divests Seniors Housing Communities to SNF Company

    Senior Living Investment Brokerage’s Vince Viverito, Nick Cacciabando, Jeff Binder and Lucas Doll handled the sale of two seniors housing communities in Oklahoma. The communities are located in Mustang and Oklahoma City, both built in stages from the late-1990s to the late-2000s. They total 135 units of independent living, assisted living and... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Recapitalizes Massachusetts Class-A Portfolio

    Northbridge Companies and Taurus Investment Holdings recapitalized their portfolio of six Class-A seniors housing communities in the Boston suburbs for $227 million, or $447,700 per unit. The recap comes five years after the joint venture acquired the portfolio for approximately $200 million, or $394,500 per unit, which was Taurus’ first... Read More »
  • Ziegler Places Two Bank Loans for Phorcys Capital Partners

    Ziegler served as the capital structure advisor in the placement of two bank loans totaling $21.795 million on behalf of Phorcys Capital Partners. The first financing was used to acquire Superior Residences of Clermont, a not-for-profit assisted living/memory care community in Clermont, Florida that was held and operated through a court-appointed... Read More »
  • Not-For-Profit Secures Refinancing

    Ziegler announced the closing of a large bond financing on behalf of Sequoia Living, a California not-for-profit public benefit corporation that serves seniors throughout Northern California. Sequoia, originally known as Northern California Presbyterian Homes, and its related entities own four CCRCs and three affordable housing communities. The... Read More »

IL cap rates follow prices down

As prices rise, we would expect cap rates to depress accordingly to reflect the increasing values. However, even though the average price per unit for independent living properties fell 22% from $246,800 in 2014 to $192,900 in 2015, the average IL cap rate dropped by 40 basis points from 7.4% in 2014 to 7.0% in 2015. What contributed to this anomaly? First, independent living prices reached unsustainable heights in 2014, propped up by a number of sales of high-quality properties by owners drawn into the frothy market. So, it is not surprising that the average IL price fell to a still-respectable value (the second-highest average price, in fact). Second, there were simply fewer high-cap... Read More »

Two cheers for Cambridge

Cambridge Realty Capital Companies closed nearly $25 million in HUD refinancings for two senior care properties in the Chicago area. Both were Alden Management Services facilities, two of 46 owned by the senior care provider mainly around Chicago and a couple in Wisconsin. A 121-bed assisted living community in Aurora received a $13.58 million loan with a 35-year term. In Chicago, a 300-bed skilled nursing facility refinanced with an $11.3 million loan, also for 35 years. Cambridge Realty Capital Ltd. underwrote both transactions. Read More »
Medicaid and Assisted Living

Medicaid and Assisted Living

As Managed Care expands into Medicaid, we may see more Medicaid-funded assisted living, and the jury is still out on what that means. Let’s face it, there will be a growing number of people over age 80 who will not be able to afford to live in assisted living and memory care communities, at least not the ones being built today. Even fewer can afford skilled nursing, with monthly private pay rates two and three times higher than assisted living. So what’s going to happen? Some people say home- and community-based care will fill the void, but that is not always cheaper nor the best option. Some states have done a good job with Medicaid waivers to financially support lower-income seniors who... Read More »

NHI exercises its option

Further expanding its relationship with Bickford Senior Living, National Health Investors exercised its purchase option to acquire five assisted living/memory care communities from Bickford for $87.5 million, or $315,884 per unit, with an approximate cap rate of 8.3%. Although the properties are not included in the existing joint venture between the two entities, the companies have been closely linked since 2012 when they announced a 10-property partnership, then followed that with a 36-property development pipeline, plus various other acquisitions. This current deal involves five well performing properties in Iowa (2), Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska with an average combined occupancy of... Read More »
Iron Will

Iron Will

We can’t go long without seeing another Aron Will (of CBRE) transaction, or two. The first of his latest deal duo took place in California when a joint venture between Auctus Capital Partners and Och-Ziff Capital Management acquired a 54-unit assisted living/memory care community in San Francisco. Located on an irreplaceable site, the building was originally built it 1923 as a hospital but was purchased by a Mom & Pop in the 1990s who then converted it to senior care. It has some underutilized “dead space” that the JV will convert to add significantly more assisted living and memory care units. Plus, Auctus and Och-Ziff will make some cosmetic improvements to help drive operations,... Read More »
AL cap rates sink even deeper

AL cap rates sink even deeper

We have spent the last few weeks discussing the skilled nursing market, focusing particularly on the average cap rate falling to near-record lows. But what about the assisted living M&A market? We saw the average price per unit for assisted living communities rise slightly (from $188,700 in 2014 to $189,200 in 2015), and in turn the average cap rate fell by five basis points from 7.75% to 7.7%. Despite the slight decrease, this is still a continuation of the “new normal” AL market. Since the Great Recession, the average cap rate has steadily been declining, and seemed to rest at around 8.7% in 2012 and 2013. But since then, the current market has settled to an average cap rate around... Read More »
Pillar delivers

Pillar delivers

A 96-unit assisted living community in Glen Cove, New York undergoing an expansion to add a dedicated memory care wing also refinanced with HUD at the same time. The community, built in 1992 and owned by the not-for-profit National Healthplex, Inc., sought to repay existing municipal bonds, as well as to fund the conversion/rehabilitation project. Josh Hausfeld of Pillar originated a $32.5 million HUD loan, with a 40-year term. The financing was more complicated than usual, with a ground lease on the project land, a payment in-lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement, and the existing tax-exempt bonds issued by Glen Cove Industrial Development Agency. Following the expansion, the community will... Read More »
Buyers’ SNF opportunity

Buyers’ SNF opportunity

The recent trends of the 10-year Treasury Rate and the average skilled nursing facility cap rates have provided a lot of flexibility for buyers in how they price their acquisitions and negotiate with lenders. After rising from its low in 2012, the average 10-year rate was slowing increasing through 2014 and then dropped a bit in 2015 to a three-year low. But, for the past four years, the 10-year Treasury rate, which has long been thought of as “risk-free,” has averaged 2.5% or lower, or more than 200 basis points lower than during the last market peak of 2006 to 2007. What is interesting to follow is the spread between the 10-year rate and the average skilled nursing cap rate. Nearly 10... Read More »
Medicaid and Assisted Living

Media Bias Against SNFs Again

The New York Times is at it again, and the reporters don’t want to do some simple math. Well, well, it looks like The New York Times is at it again. Two weeks ago it had a sensationalist story about residents “held” in nursing facilities. Last weekend, they continued on the theme of the disabled being confined in nursing facilities and ready to go home. The gist of the story was that home and community based care is what the elderly and disabled want (true), and that it is cheaper to boot (not so true). In fact, they cited Washington State as claiming that they can care for seven people at home for the cost of one person in a nursing facility. Really? The Washington Medicaid daily... Read More »
Iron Will

Capital One strikes twice

Showing off its wide array of services, Capital One announced two transactions this week across two health care sectors. First, in seniors housing, Allison Holland originated and provided a 12-year $11 million Fannie Mae loan to refinance a 72-unit assisted living community in Homosassa, Florida (about 60 miles north of Tampa). The community was built in 2009 and features a choice of studio, one- or two-bedroom units. Ms. Holland arranged the 12-year term for the borrower to take advantage of the current low interest rates. Then, in home health care, Capital One served as administrative agent and lead bookrunner for a $65 million senior secured credit facility to finance the acquisition of... Read More »

HUD grows

HUD just made things a little easier for owners of seniors housing and care properties to refinance through the HUD LEAN program. There were a couple of notable changes to the program. First, when facilitating a partner-buyout on a property and the borrower takes out a bridge loan to finance it, they can refinance that loan immediately with HUD, with certain caveats, including timelines for buyback provisions. The second notable change is a new system for determining debt seasoning. If a HUD loan is less than or equal to 60% loan-to-value (LTV), then there is no debt seasoning requirement. Between 60% LTV and 70%, there is no seasoning required as long as at least 50%of the existing bridge... Read More »