At first blush, 2023 looks like a bad year for seniors housing property sales. Total transaction volume fell 23 percent to $10.6 billion, the sector’s lowest mark in over a decade, according to data from MSCI Real Assets. “I’m not surprised to see transaction volume down from 2022,” says Kelly Sheehy, senior managing director of Artemis Real Estate Partners. “The combined impact of declining asset values, scarcity of financing for new acquisitions and lender extensions for underperforming assets has kept sellers from listing assets and have prevented levered buyers from acquiring.” MSCI’s data is based on independent reports of property and portfolio sales of $2.5 million and above. The numbers include both private-pay seniors housing and skilled nursing care, but not active adult properties. The factors limiting seniors housing transaction volume have affected all real estate asset classes. As far as property acquisitions go, seniors housing was one of the most consistent property sectors in the United States in 2023. Commercial real estate sales across the country were down 51 percent last year, and the two hardest hit sectors were office (sales fell 56 percent) and multifamily (sales fell 61 percent), according to MSCI. What’s more, seniors housing was the …
