• Regional Owner/Operator Enters New State

    A regional owner/operator looking to enter the state of Indiana acquired Smith Farms Manor, an independent living community in Auburn, about 30 miles south of the Michigan border. Built in 1998, the community features 51 units and is well maintained. It sits on an attractive four-acre campus down the street from Parkview DeKalb Hospital and off... Read More »
  • Skilled Nursing Portfolio Gets New Operator

    Evans Senior Investments secured a new lease for a skilled nursing portfolio in Tennessee on behalf of an institutional owner. The portfolio features four assets and was operating below 70% occupancy with margins under 10%. Despite that performance, ESI secured a lease $3 million above in-place cash flow, reflecting the operational upside that... Read More »
  • Seniors Housing and Care M&A Remains Elevated in Q1:26

    The number of publicly announced seniors housing and care acquisitions in the first quarter of 2026 reached 231 deals, based on new acquisition data from LevinPro LTC. This represents a 19.8% decrease from the 288 transactions disclosed in the fourth quarter of 2025, but a 25.5% increase from the 184 deals in Q1:25.   “It was always going... Read More »
  • Clarion Acquires Again in Colorado

    Two years after opening a 160-unit seniors housing community in Centennial, Colorado (Denver MSA), MorningStar Senior Living announced an expanding relationship with Clarion Partners, a leading real estate investment company and specialty investment manager of Franklin Templeton, in its acquisition of MorningStar at Holly Park. The community... Read More »
  • Brookdale’s Summer Test Ahead

    Brookdale Senior Living reported its March occupancy results, and it unfortunately took another step in the wrong direction. We will get a better read when peers report first-quarter results and when NIC MAP releases its next tranche of occupancy data, but at this point, it seems as though Brookdale will need a particularly strong performance... Read More »
Second Quarter Occupancy Results

Second Quarter Occupancy Results

NIC MAP just released its second-quarter occupancy trends results, and unfortunately, it was not what the industry had hoped for. For the overall seniors housing industry, average occupancy remained flat at 78.7% from the first quarter to the second quarter.   Given the reports of bottoming out by March for several of the large operators and the REITs with large operating portfolios, and strong census increases in April and May, we were a bit surprised that the quarter-to-quarter change was stagnant. We figured maybe at least a 50-basis point increase or higher. The one thing this tells us is that the early spring momentum did not carry over into June. Or possibly it was the... Read More »
Seniors Housing Rates: Actual vs. Asking

Seniors Housing Rates: Actual vs. Asking

For years, NIC MAP has been presenting quarterly changes in seniors housing asking rates, but it is now trying to get beyond that and get the actual rental rates. That will add a lot more needed transparency. As many of you know, NIC is working hard to develop its database of actual rents in seniors housing as opposed to the “asking” rents that have been used in their NIC Map numbers for years. This is very important because not until the market sees the actual rents communities are getting will we have a better understanding of the extent of price discounting in various markets.  We have been a little vocal about the asking rent number because when times are tough, like they... Read More »

NIC MAP Q3 Occupancy Results Fall Short Of Expectations

In more normal times, whatever that may be, the third quarter is supposed to be a good one for occupancy increases, perhaps the best quarter of the year. Not so in the past three years, however. NIC MAP has reported yet another slow month for seniors housing occupancy, which does not bode well for the rest of the year or for early 2018. The modest (10 basis points) increase in assisted living occupancy, combined with the modest decrease (-10 basis points) for independent living, does not bode well for the fourth quarter, when recent weather-related events will surely have a negative impact. Following that will be the first quarter flu season problems, which in 2017 lasted well into the... Read More »
Independent Living Market Outperforms

Independent Living Market Outperforms

First quarter data from NIC MAP shows IL occupancy again exceeding assisted living, but with less new development. What is it about the independent living community market that keeps occupancy more stable than assisted living, yet sees a much lower level of new development? In the latest NIC MAP data on the first quarter, the IL market outperformed the AL market again, even though IL occupancy did slip a bit sequentially and year over year. I have a hard time understanding why there is not more development in the IL side of the business. Yes, they are larger properties that require more capital and a longer fill time, but it just seems they can be more tailored to any market’s particular... Read More »

Seniors Housing Occupancy Continues Its Decline

As many people expected, seniors housing occupancy levels declined in the first quarter this year, with assisted living posting larger declines than independent living. According to the recently released NIC MAP data, primarily assisted living communities in the 31 primary markets posted a sequential drop in occupancy of 50 basis points to 87.2%, and a year-over-year drop of 100 basis points. Even though these numbers were sort of expected, there was some hope that the sector was starting to turn things around in the quarter. Not yet. It was a little surprising that half the year-over-year drop came in one quarter, however. On the independent living side, occupancy in the top 31 markets... Read More »