• Sabra Trims Forecast, Tempering a Solid Quarter

    Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc. announced several acquisitions in its third quarter results. The REIT acquired six managed seniors housing properties for $217.5 million with an estimated initial cash yield of 7.8%, three of which were acquired through a consolidated joint venture in which Sabra has a 95% equity interest. The company also purchased... Read More »
  • CareTrust’s Flurry of Acquisitions

    CareTrust REIT, Inc. closed a series of transactions totaling approximately $437 million in late October. In two separate deals, the REIT acquired 12 skilled nursing facilities and one skilled nursing campus located across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. The combined portfolio includes approximately 1,760 licensed skilled nursing beds and... Read More »
  • Ensign Adds to Its Utah and Alabama Footprint

    The Ensign Group, Inc. kicked off November with a couple of new deals. The publicly traded company acquired the real estate and operations of the following seven Stonehedge skilled nursing facilities in Utah: Stonehenge of American Fork (90 beds in American Fork) Stonehenge of Cedar City (50 beds in Cedar City) Stonehenge of Ogden (52 beds in... Read More »
  • Joint Venture Makes Its First Acquisition

    A joint venture between Capitol Seniors Housing and a global alternative asset manager with over $55 billion in assets under management worldwide acquired The Woods at Merrimack, a 140-unit seniors housing community in Methuen, Massachusetts. This is the first deal between CSH and the asset manager but marks the beginning of a long-term... Read More »
  • Michigan-Based Owner/Operator Buys Lansing Campus

    A public REIT engaged Blueprint in the confidential divestiture of a 53-unit assisted living and memory care campus in Lansing, Michigan. The campus features two standalone buildings separately catering to assisted living residents and those requiring memory care. The well-maintained campus was originally built in 1997 and consisted of 19... Read More »
Brookdale, Genesis Report Tough Quarters

Brookdale, Genesis Report Tough Quarters

Brookdale Senior Living and Genesis HealthCare, the two largest providers, were not spared from COVID’s devastation in the second quarter. The two largest providers in their respective sectors, Brookdale Senior Living in seniors housing and Genesis HealthCare in skilled nursing, did not escape COVID’s wrath. No one expected they would. Fortunately for Brookdale, they have negotiated most of their underwater leases, so that will lessen the economic pain. But consolidated occupancy fell 440 basis points from the first quarter to the second. As of July 31, occupancy was at 76.6%, 120 basis points below the June 30 level. And COVID is spreading in two of its largest states, Florida and... Read More »
For Ventas, Welltower, Second Quarter Could Have Been Worse

For Ventas, Welltower, Second Quarter Could Have Been Worse

Second quarter earnings reports are not done yet, but the majority of the companies and REITs have reported. We were obviously not expecting a good quarter, but given the trend lines from March through June, the results could have been worse. In fact, for many companies it appears as if the worst is behind them. Or maybe it is better said that the bad news is getting less so. Let’s just say, the fat lady has not completed her song yet.  Before we get into some of the specifics of the two largest REITs, which happen to have the largest seniors housing operating portfolios, we do have some observations from the companies reporting. First, it appears that labor costs have declined for... Read More »
Blueprint Announces Three Senior Care Closings

Blueprint Announces Three Senior Care Closings

Blueprint Healthcare Real Estate Advisors previously announced a total of six transactions closing at the end of June and beginning of July, and now the details on a few of those are coming out.  Michael Segal and Ben Firestone have now sold every skilled nursing facility in the eastern Kentucky town of Pikeville. Two years ago, the pair sold a 106-bed SNF located near the 250-bed Pikeville Medical Center, representing the publicly traded REIT seller. Earlier this month, they sold the other. Built in 1979 and renovated in 1987, the 120-bed facility features mostly semi-private rooms. It maintained steady occupancy above 90% and generated consistent revenues over $9... Read More »
Brookdale and Capital Senior Volatile

Brookdale and Capital Senior Volatile

During the course of this pandemic, the entire stock market has been extremely volatile. The quick 35% plunge was followed by a nearly as quick return, with the NASDAQ hitting new highs this week. This happened despite more than 40 million people recently hitting the unemployment lines.  This week, however, we saw volatility reaching new highs in the senior living sector. As an example, Brookdale Senior Living hit a near-term low of $2.66 per share on May 13. By June 5, it jumped by 64% to $4.37 per share. Maybe the turnaround was coming around. But by June 11 (just four trading days later), it plunged by 35% to $2.82 per share. After all that volatility, between May 13 and... Read More »
For Ventas, Welltower, Second Quarter Could Have Been Worse

Brookdale Senior Living Reports

Brookdale Senior Living reported first quarter earnings and operating results that, in some respects, were better than some investors may have expected. The problem is that everyone is expecting the worst as COVID-19 deaths keep on increasing. The reality, however, is that this pandemic really had little or no impact on the first two months of the quarter for operators. It was the last few weeks of the quarter, and obviously, the entire month of April, that started to do the damage.  Management reported that fewer than 1% of its residents had tested positive for the coronavirus, so that means that there are probably many buildings that are virus free, and we assume they are marketed as... Read More »