Senior living occupancy (independent living and assisted living) rose 0.6 percentage points to 83.7% from the first quarter to the end of the second quarter. That’s according to the analytics research team at the National Investment Centers for Senior Housing & Care.

The findings, based on NIC MAP Vision data, were presented at a recent webinar.

Senior living now has seen eight consecutive quarters of occupancy increases. That’s two full years of increases. Occupancy now has surpassed the pandemic low of 77.8% seen in the second quarter of 2021 by 5.9 percentage points. 

Occupancy, however, has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. Senior living occupancy in the first quarter of 2020 was 87.1%.

But assisted living is well ahead of skilled nursing in pandemic recovery.

“Assisted living has recovered roughly three-fourths of its occupancy losses, while nursing care has recovered nearly two-thirds of its occupancy losses, and each had a second quarter occupancy rate of approximately 82%,” NIC Senior Principal Caroline Clapp noted. “Independent living has recovered only half of its occupancy losses, but its current occupancy rate is still highest among these segments.”

Inventory growth in senior living is the lowest it’s been seen NIC began keeping track back in 2006. Inventory growth has generally trended down from its high point of almost 6,300 units in mid-2019, according to NIC.

Senior living new construction is on the decline. Newly constructed units were slightly over 34,000 in the second quarter, the lowest number since 2015.

“Since 2011, the number of units under construction for assisted living has exceeded the number for independent living. In recent quarters, however, the gap between the two property types has narrowed, with majority assisted living comprising 52% of units under construction in the second quarter of 2023 and majority independent living comprising 48%, so each made up roughly half of construction,” Clapp said. “In comparison, majority assisted living comprised more than 70% of units under construction in 2013, which was its peak share.”

There were slightly fewer than 18,000 assisted living units and about 16,500 independent living units under construction in the second quarter.

“Overall, while construction has slowed sharply from its peak levels, there is still construction underway. Furthermore, much of it is concentrated within several individual metro markets,” Clapp noted.