• Brookdale’s Portfolio Stumbles in February

    Brookdale Senior Living reported its February 2026 occupancy numbers, and if the remaining cold weather months even closely resemble what the company has posted so far this winter, they will need to do some serious heavy lifting this summer to progress in its census rebound.  All of its reported occupancy figures, including consolidated and... Read More »
  • 60 Seconds with Swett: The State of the Healthcare M&A Market

    I attended the McDermott Will & Schulte Healthcare Private Equity Conference in Miami Beach last week, and the buzz mostly centered around increased investment in outpatient care, AI in healthcare and a persistent bid-ask spread that has kept healthcare M&A relatively steady, and down when comparing it to the seniors housing and care... Read More »
  • Newmark Reports Slew of February Deals

    The Newmark seniors housing team reported an active February, with six investment sales and four significant debt transactions. First, outside of Chicago, the team sold Clarendale of Mokena, a 156-unit seniors housing community featuring independent living, assisted living and memory care services. The community was built in 2015 by Ryan... Read More »
  • Improving SNF Sells to Newer Skilled Nursing Entrant

    A regional skilled nursing owner/operator divested one of its senior care facilities in western Nebraska after deciding to refocus its operational efforts in a more condensed regional footprint. The owner/operator engaged Michael Segal and Daniel Waldhorn of Blueprint to run the process.  Built in 1960, Monument Rehabilitation and Care... Read More »
  • AEW Capital Management Divests to Joint Venture

    Berkadia Seniors Housing & Healthcare handled the sale and financing of The Sheridan of Green Oaks, which Town Lane and Arcole acquired, marking the joint venture’s fifth seniors housing investment in their inaugural $1.25 billion real estate fund. Built in 2016 by Senior Lifestyle Corporation, the Class-A community comprises 78 independent... Read More »
NIC, Valuations and Big Deals

NIC, Valuations and Big Deals

Join me Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 pm as I moderate the NIC Valuations session. By the time you are watching this, I will be walking around the meeting rooms, receptions, and various sessions at the NIC Conference. And please join me today at 4:00 pm as I am moderating the session on valuations called, “What’s It Really Worth?” If you want to find out the answer, join us. But it is a very good question in today’s market, where capital is still abundant, but the 10-year Treasury rate has doubled in a year and a half. Occupancies are still weak across the board, but there are plenty of providers producing a healthy amount of cash flow. The minimum wage is rising across the country, but that... Read More »
Seniors Housing Occupancy Woes

Seniors Housing Occupancy Woes

Recent third quarter data was not promising, but are we looking at the wrong numbers? When NIC released its occupancy stats last week, people were hoping for good news. Hope, however, is not a business plan. The third quarter has historically been a “make-up” quarter, making up for the usual dismal first quarter and the now not-so-good second quarter. It didn’t happen this year, and as we head into the flu season, that is very troubling. What may be more troubling is that in the top 31 MSAs, assisted living unit growth is still at its highest levels since before 2006. And while moderating, assisted living construction as a percent of inventory is still higher than it has been in 13 years.... Read More »
Missing Out On Bad News

Missing Out On Bad News

A vacation is a horrible thing when bad news hits the market. It is a horrible thing to go on vacation when all sorts of things are happening in the market, but such was the case last week. What I missed was the roll-out of earnings and the very disappointing occupancy numbers. For some, they were worse than the weak results posted for the second quarter by NIC. The ubiquitous villain was the tail of last winter’s flu season. But it seems the seniors housing sector is surviving on a two steps backward, one step forward cycle, and not making up much ground. What still amazes me is that the warning signs were there in abundance well over a year ago, yet too many people ignored them. Leading... Read More »
Missing Out On Bad News

No Deal For Brookdale Senior Living Yet

Brookdale Senior Living remains in a rut, and the Chinese option may be disappearing. For some reason, Brookdale Senior Living has kept out of the news recently, which is a good thing. What’s not so good is that its share price continues to be stuck in a rut. What also is not so good is that with the recent second quarter occupancy numbers out of NIC, we have to assume that given Brookdale’s size, their occupancy levels contributed to the downward trend in occupancy. Also not good. Everyone continues to wait on news of a buyer for Brookdale to come forward. The Chinese card seems to be disappearing given that the U.S. authorities are scrutinizing Chinese sponsored acquisitions more... Read More »

Seniors Housing Occupancy Weakens

NIC announced their second quarter occupancy and development trends, and unfortunately it was not pretty. After a first quarter which suffered from the ubiquitous flu season census declines, we had expected, at worst, a small sequential decline in the second quarter, but perhaps a small 10 to 20 basis point uptick, maybe even better. For majority assisted living in the top 31 MSAs, for those properties open for two years (stabilized properties) average occupancy dropped 50 basis points from the first quarter to 88.9%, but down 80 basis points from the year-ago quarter. Historically, the average second quarter sequential decline is 10 basis points, and the current 50 basis point drop was... Read More »