The pace of merger and acquisition activity in seniors housing and long-term care will stay the same or accelerate over the next year, predict 89% of those responding to a recent survey by Capital One.
Forty-three percent of the 150 poll-takers said they expect activity to increase.
“The uptick in acquisition interest is a positive sign for the industry,” Chris Taylor, managing director at Capital One Healthcare, said in a statement. “It could be a reflection of some of the concerns we’ve seen over the past year about a potential unevenness in the supply and demand for newly developed seniors housing properties in some submarkets.”
Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they would be focusing on acquiring existing facilities, another 30% said they would be concentrating on repositioning older properties, and 19% said they viewed new development as their best opportunity.
Geographically, the Southeast and West Coast markets especially interested 26% and 22% of respondents, respectively.
Supply and demand imbalances as well as labor costs were cited by respondents as the top challenges facing seniors housing and skilled nursing; 32% and 33% of survey-takers, respectively, cited those issues.
The survey was conducted in early September.
