Nursing care occupancy improved from the fourth quarter of 2017, according to new data from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC).
The nursing care occupancy rate improved from 86.2% in the fourth quarter to 86.5% in the first quarter of 2018. The annual inventory growth rate for nursing care, on the other hand, was -0.2% in the first quarter, and annual absorption dropped by 1%.
Private-pay rents for the sector grew 2.4% on a year-over-year basis, down 0.4 percentage point from the year-ago period.
The occupancy rate for senior housing properties as a whole averaged 88.3% for the first quarter of this year, a decline of 0.5 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2017 and a 0.9-percentage-point decline from the year-ago period. The rate is a six-year low for the sector as a whole.
The slight upward trend in nursing care occupancy contrasts with recent NIC reports on skilled nursing occupancy, which has been consistently declining in the past year and is expected to keep doing so.
Written by Maggie Flynn
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