• 60 Seconds with Swett: Sticks and Bricks in ’26?

    The talk around new development is getting a lot more serious in the seniors housing industry, leading us to wonder if our 2024 prediction of “Sticks and Bricks in ‘26” may actually come true, somewhat. Back then, we may have thought that interest rates would have come down a bit more by now, but that the FOMO of getting involved in seniors... Read More »
  • Wyoming SNF Sale Sets New State Record

    There was a new record set for skilled nursing pricing in the state of Wyoming with the sale of Big Horn Rehabilitation and Care Center in Sheridan. Built in the 1960s, the facility features 128 beds and was 61% occupied. It was owned by a regional operator that was looking to recycle capital.  Before the marketing process, Evans Senior... Read More »
  • Owner/Operator Acquires Facility Out of Bankruptcy

    A senior care facility in Worcester, Massachusetts, sold as part of a bankruptcy process with the help of Patrick Burke and Toby Siefert of Senior Living Investment Brokerage. Built in 1970, Donna Kay Rest Home features 60 licensed beds in 31 units, providing a higher level of care and supervision than assisted living but at a lesser acuity than... Read More »
  • Civitas Sells Community to Clarion

    Hap Knowles and Nick Stahler of the Knapp-Stahler Group at Institutional Property Advisors announced that they led the sale of a seniors housing community in the Phoenix, Arizona MSA, to the fast-growing real estate investment firm Clarion Partners. The deal appears to be The Retreat at Alameda, a 110-unit assisted living/memory care community in... Read More »
  • Blueprint Handles Recapitalization

    Blueprint handled the recapitalization of Forest Hills Commons, a 2017-developed, 119-unit assisted living/memory care community in the Louisville, Kentucky MSA. A Louisville-based senior living owner/operator/developer engaged Blueprint in the third quarter of 2025 to begin the process. The asset demonstrated strong in-place performance and... 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 »