• 60 Seconds with Steve Monroe: Mad as Hell

    We are halfway through the year, and I am already angry. Angry at what, you may ask? All the interference from government, both elected officials and the bureaucrats. From people who think they understand how seniors housing should work. From the unions. From the anti-PE firm groups. I always say, do a few 12-hour shifts, or move in for a few... Read More »
  • Focus Healthcare Partners Set for Growth, Again

    A familiar buyer is set to be very busy in the next year of seniors housing M&A activity, as Focus Healthcare Partners has closed on its Focus Senior Housing Fund II LP and raised approximately $370 million in capital commitments for it. The closed-end, commingled discretionary real estate fund will target private pay seniors housing assets... Read More »
  • Inspired Healthcare Acquires Class-A Community in Texas

    Berkadia facilitated the sale of a Class-A seniors housing community in New Braunfels, Texas. Cody Tremper, Mike Garbers, Dave Fasano and Ross Sanders handled the transaction on behalf of Biloxi, Mississippi-based LifeCare Properties, a wholly owned subsidiary of Comvest Properties. The buyer was Scottsdale, Arizona-based Inspired Healthcare... Read More »
  • CFG Originates HUD Financing Package

    Capital Funding Group announced the closing of a $42 million HUD financing package on behalf of a nationally recognized borrower. The package included three loans supporting the refinance of existing bridge loans for three skilled nursing facilities: a $9.8 million HUD loan to support an 80-bed facility in Idaho, a $21.6 million HUD loan to... Read More »
  • Dwight Capital Finances SNF Portfolio Deal

    Dwight Capital and its affiliate REIT, Dwight Mortgage Trust, financed a $142 million bridge acquisition loan for a portfolio of 10 skilled nursing facilities in prime Southeast urban markets in Georgia (Atlanta), Tennessee (Memphis), Alabama (Mobile) and Louisiana (Shreveport). The properties include Bell Minor Home, Cambridge Post Acute Care... Read More »
Welltower Census Bottoming Out

Welltower Census Bottoming Out

Usually, a few weeks does not translate into a long-term trend, but for Welltower’s SHOP portfolio, it may just be the case. And it is one we have all been waiting for since it is the largest portfolio in the senior living sector to make some forecasts from.  After plummeting by approximately 1,200 basis points since February 2020, average occupancy has seemed to have bottomed out in March 2021 at 73.7%. The monthly declines in occupancy in the first quarter were already slowing, with March being the best of the pandemic era with just a 10-basis point drop. But for the weeks ended March 12 and March 19, it rested at 73.7%, before rising 20 basis points the next week and 10 the week after... Read More »
Welltower Obtains Cheap Capital

Welltower Obtains Cheap Capital

There has been a lot of noise over the past year about the debt markets being “closed,” or partially so, spreads widening, terms tightening and lenders not wanting to venture into loans with new borrowers. And, we have to mention, Treasury rates have risen significantly, with the 10-year rate actually tripling from its low in 2020.  With that as background, we were glad to see that Welltower was able to sell $750 million in unsecured 10-year notes at an interest rate of 2.8%. That represents a spread of just 120 basis points over the 10-year Treasury rate. If not a record, that is close to a record low spread for a healthcare REIT raising funds on an unsecured basis. And it... Read More »
Walker & Dunlop Arranges Several Sales

Walker & Dunlop Arranges Several Sales

The Walker & Dunlop Investment Sales team, including Joshua Jandris, Mark Myers, Brett Gardner and Jordyn Berger, is off to a good start to their year, already announcing a few closings with another four set to close in the next six weeks. In total, the team has about $1.0 billion of listings under contract and scheduled closings in its pipeline.   They first closed the sale of an independent living portfolio in the Atlanta, Georgia metro area. Operated by The Mansions Group and owned by a group of investors and developers, the four communities are newly built, considered to be “A” quality and combine for 559 units. Most were stabilized with occupancy above 90%, but the newest... Read More »
Genesis to be Delisted After Welltower Split

Genesis to be Delisted After Welltower Split

When Genesis HealthCare announced last year that it may not make it in the following 12 months, you knew something had to be done. And then at the beginning of this year when its longstanding CEO, George Hager, departed, you knew that replacing one person with another was just not going to cut it. But perhaps it enabled the Board to move on what had to be done to salvage a desperate situation.  Late on Tuesday, Welltower announced that it has substantially exited its 10-year operating relationship with Genesis HealthCare. The move cannot be seen as much of a surprise considering Genesis’ “going concern” notice last year, multiple major write downs associated with... Read More »
Welltower Still Sees Opportunity

Welltower Still Sees Opportunity

We all know that Welltower has been selling a few billion of seniors housing assets just like Healthpeak Properties has. But the difference is that Welltower is still buying. Not only that, they picked up a 790-unit portfolio operated by Harbor Retirement Associates for $132 million, or $167,000 per unit. The seller? Healthpeak (see story above). Even though the portfolio had negative lease coverage, we are sure Welltower is looking at that well-below-replacement-cost pricing.  But Welltower needs to pay attention to its own operating portfolio, where occupancy continues to decline. The average census was 77.3% in November, falling to 76.3%... Read More »