Bill Kauffman

Seniors housing and care transaction volume has declined over the past three years, according to preliminary data shared by National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care Senior Principal Bill Kauffman in a Wednesday blog post.

“If these figures hold as we finalize the 2017 numbers, then it will be the lowest year in closed transactions volume since 2012,” he wrote.

Total 2017 volume of $14.1 billion was down 2.8% from 2016, when it was $14.5 billion, and down 35.5% from 2015, when it was $21.9 billion, he wrote.

Of total closed transactions last year, $7.9 billion of the amount came in seniors housing and $6.2 billion was in nursing care, Kauffman added.

The second and fourth quarters of the year were “relatively weak,” with the fourth quarter having the lowest dollar volume and number of transactions of 2017, he said, noting particularly that the fourth quarter of a year historically is strong compared with the rest of the year.

“Of course, one main reason for this could be the wait-and-see approach as the tax overhaul was unfolding as 2017 came to a close,” Kauffman wrote. “Time will tell if deals were delayed into the first quarter of 2018, or perhaps the second quarter.”

Single-property transactions, as opposed to transactions related to portfolios, continued to represent the majority of transactions, he said.

Read the entire blog entry on the NIC website.