• Ventas Posts Strong 2025 Results and Continues SHOP Momentum

    One of the big REITs, Ventas, reported its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 results, and its activity was impressive, with the company continuing to outperform many of its peers. A full comparison will have to wait for Welltower’s earnings release, but Ventas nonetheless posted a strong year.  In the fourth quarter, Ventas’ U.S. portfolio... Read More »
  • Ensign Delivers Strong Q4 and Full-Year 2025 Results

    The Ensign Group posted a strong fourth quarter and full-year 2025. The company reported that FFO was $75.2 million for 2025, an increase of 28.3% over 2024, and $20.4 million for the quarter, an increase of 33.9% over the prior year quarter. Same facilities and transitioning facilities occupancy for the year were 82.9% and 84.2%, increases of... Read More »
  • Omega Reports Continued Momentum

    Omega Healthcare Investors announced its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 results, completing approximately $334 million in fourth quarter investments, which consisted of $52 million in real estate acquisitions, $16 million in real estate loans and $266 million in unconsolidated entities. In 2025 Omega completed $1.1 billion in new investments,... Read More »
  • Senior Lifestyle Recapitalizes Two Communities

    Senior Lifestyle participated with its capital partners in the recapitalization of North Shore Place in Northbrook, Illinois, and The Sheridan at Eastside in Snellville, Georgia. Both communities were developed by Senior Lifestyle and will continue to be operated by the company following the transaction. North Shore Place is a 188-unit assisted... Read More »
  • Berkadia Announces 2025 Activity and Latest Deal

    Berkadia recorded another successful year, with more than $2 billion in mortgage banking closings for the second consecutive year. In 2025, Berkadia’s financings were spread across 123 properties including active adult, independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing communities. Multiple lending sources were utilized, such... Read More »
National Health Investors Cuts Dividend

National Health Investors Cuts Dividend

Even though National Health Investors didn’t have to cut its dividend, management made the prudent decision to reduce its quarterly dividend by 18% to 90 cents a share. The yield had been at the high end of its peers at 6.6%, and now it will be 5.4%. Even though at least one analyst last week came forward saying he didn’t think a cut would be made, the market shrugged off the news, with NHI shares dropping just 1.26%. Perhaps they should have gone bigger.  Coincident with the dividend announcement, NHI also announced one of its major tenants, Holiday Retirement Corporation, was going to defer $600,000 in monthly rent for May through July. NHI will take that deferred... Read More »
National Health Investors Stabilizing

National Health Investors Stabilizing

National Health Investors (NHI) was the last of the healthcare REITs to report earnings in what was a very informative earnings season. We have already reported that the REITs and their SHOP portfolios have begun the long-anticipated turnaround as occupancy begins to rebound. Operating costs will be another matter, and it will take a few years to return to normal, whatever that is.  NHI’s three major seniors housing tenants have appeared to stabilize, at least from an occupancy perspective. Bickford Senior Living, which has been responsible for the majority of cash rent deferrals during the pandemic, boosted sequential occupancy by 180 basis points in April to 76.3%. That... Read More »
Promising Census Signs From National Health Investors Update

Promising Census Signs From National Health Investors Update

We are still waiting for that first sign that the seniors housing and care recovery has truly begun. There were some encouraging signs from Welltower’s SHOP portfolio when its census started to rise in the later weeks of March. But so far, that is it. Earlier this month, NIC reported that average occupancy at seniors housing communities fell to a new record low in the first quarter, to 78.8% from 80.6% in the fourth quarter.  National Health Investors also recently provided an update regarding its average occupancy and monthly contractual cash collections. Even though the REIT did not report an increase in census at its three major seniors housing operators, the decline has slowed... Read More »
Two REITs Close Couple of Loans

Two REITs Close Couple of Loans

A couple of REITs in good financial shape (and still open to making new investments) announced a couple of loans closed for senior care facilities. CareTrust REIT completed a $15 million secured mezzanine loan for Next Healthcare’s acquisition of a nine-property skilled nursing portfolio with approximately 1,000 beds in Virginia. The loan came with a five-year term and annual interest rate of 12%, with CareTrust funding it from its $600 million unsecured revolving credit facility. White Oak Healthcare Finance was the senior lender on the deal. Then, National Health Investors funded a $22.2 million construction loan for the development of a 110-unit senior living community in Sussex,... Read More »
Senior Care Stocks Stay High After Vaccine News

Senior Care Stocks Stay High After Vaccine News

After Pfizer’s vaccine announcement on November 9, pretty much every publicly traded senior care provider and REIT saw their share prices jump significantly. We believe that much of the exuberance was mainly from the removal of uncertainty surrounding both the vaccine and the election, but as we said earlier this month, it is not like no one thought a vaccine would not be available in the months ahead. And there was still the fact that the Pfizer vaccine needs to go through the FDA approval process, not to mention manufacturing tens of millions of doses, and then distributing them.  But we also wondered if investors had gotten a little ahead of themselves,... Read More »