• Sabra Health Care REIT Picks Up the Transaction Pace

    Sabra Health Care REIT is ramping up its senior care M&A activity and its SHOP exposure, set to exceed the $450 million in investments it spent in 2025. The REIT completed several transactions during the first quarter, with investments closed year to date totaling $206.1 million, with an estimated initial cash yield of 8.0%. The pipeline... Read More »
  • Clarion Partners Continues Growing

    Clarion Partners is continuing on its acquisition streak, adding Legacy House of Avondale to its portfolio. The 169-unit Class-A assisted living/memory care community is in the Phoenix, Arizona MSA, with a strong operational footing. Clarion Partners further expanded its relationship with MorningStar Senior Living through the deal, partnering... Read More »
  • Blueprint Handles Virginia Deal

    A publicly traded company engaged Blueprint to sell a value-add independent living community in a growing submarket of Richmond, Virginia. Built in 1987, the 122-unit community could benefit from investments in the physical plant. It was also not stabilized.  A competitive market generated multiple bids in multiple rounds and improved... Read More »
  • Public REIT Acquires Full-Continuum Communities

    A pair of full-continuum seniors housing communities that sit approximately 10 miles apart traded in Northwest Arkansas. Village on the Park Bentonville in Bentonville and Village on the Park Rogers in Rogers offer a total of 208 independent living, assisted living and memory care units. Each community also offers contiguous land for further... Read More »
  • VIUM Capital Leads HUD LEAN Mid-Year Rankings

    HUD’s fiscal year 2026 hit the halfway point on March 31, and so far VIUM Capital is leading the way in closed 232 loans and by total loan volume with 41 transactions and $598.0 million in volume, respectively. That represents 22% of the program’s closed loans in the first half of the fiscal year and 19% of the total volume. And 32 of VIUM’s HUD... Read More »
National Health Investors Secures Big Bank Financing

National Health Investors Secures Big Bank Financing

Utilizing its bank relationships, National Health Investors boosted its liquidity with a $100 million term loan provided by a syndicate of eight banks. The one-year loan came with an interest rate of 30-day LIBOR + 1.85%, with a 0.50% floor. NHI also has the right to extend the maturity date by another year.   Wells Fargo Bank acted as the administrative agent, while KeyBank, Bank of Montreal and Regions Bank acted as the syndication agents. The documentation agents were Bank of America, Capital One and Goldman Sachs Bank, which arranged the eight-bank syndicate including Pinnacle National Bank. Total commitments... Read More »
Seniors Housing Occupancy Slides Further, But Slower

Seniors Housing Occupancy Slides Further, But Slower

Well, it shouldn’t have surprised anyone, but occupancy levels for stabilized independent living and assisted living continued their drop in the month of May, according to NIC MAP. Across the country’s 31 largest metropolitan areas, assisted living properties first fell by 170 basis points from 87.8% in March (the first full month of the COVID-19 pandemic) to 86.1% in April. The sector occupancy fell by a lesser degree in May, by 90 basis points to 85.2%. So, in total, that is a 360-basis point drop for assisted living since the pandemic began.   The independent living sector has so far fared better than assisted living, but it also has the benefit of being in a stronger position going... Read More »
National Health Investors: What Pandemic?

National Health Investors: What Pandemic?

It seems that National Health Investors is doing just fine during this pandemic, as are its operators, apparently. The Tennessee-based REIT reported that it has collected 99.7% of its contractual rent in April, 100% in May, and so far, 99.4% in June. That should make shareholders feel pretty good right now.  On the occupancy front, excluding communities that have been open less than 24 months, it was not quite as rosy but nothing they can’t handle. For 41 same-community properties operated by Bickford Senior Living, occupancy has dropped 240 basis points, from 86.6% in March to 84.2% in May. The first quarter averaged 87.3%.   Senior Living... Read More »
REIT Sale/Leasebacks Are Not Dead

REIT Sale/Leasebacks Are Not Dead

It is very easy to say that sale/leaseback structures with REITs are dead, especially if your leases are dead in the water. But then you have to ask, why are they dead in the water, and why did you enter into long-term leases in the first place? You could have always financed your properties with debt at 70% to 80% loan-to-value, but the odds are you wanted to recapture some of your equity for growth (or your retirement), and there is always a price you pay for essentially leveraging your property 100%.   The real benefit of a sale/leaseback, in addition to the cash you take out, is that everything above the lease payment is yours. The REIT gets its fixed lease return,... Read More »
Brookdale Buys Eight NHI-Owned Communities

Brookdale Buys Eight NHI-Owned Communities

Brookdale Senior Living exercised its purchase option on eight assisted living communities that it operated on behalf of the owner, National Health Investors. The transaction was hinted at in NHI’s third quarter earnings report, which noted the properties as being held for sale. And Eric Mendelsohn, President and CEO, confirmed in the Q3 earnings call that the purchase price would start at a base of $37 million, with a fair market value component as high as $5 million which NHI and Brookdale would split 50-50. In the end, Brookdale paid $39.26 million, or $116,845 per unit. The eight communities, which were located in three states and totaled 336 units, contributed 2019 GAAP revenue of... Read More »