ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Demand for seniors housing hit an all-time high in the second half of 2021, signifying continued growth out of the depths of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). The analysis came in the form of a blog post by Beth Mace, NIC’s chief economist. NIC is an Annapolis-based nonprofit firm that tracks industry data gathered from 31 primary metropolitan markets through its NIC MAP Vision product. The demand was measured by absorption, with the market absorbing 21,029 units in the third and fourth quarter of 2021. “Notably, this is a clear reversal in trend from the loss of 42,129 units during the pandemic in the second, third and fourth quarters of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021,” wrote Mace. The post listed five major takeaways from the fourth-quarter 2021 data, the first of which is that occupancy has recovered 230 basis points from the low point of the pandemic, from 78.7 percent in the second quarter of 2021 to 81 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021. However, it remains 640 basis points below its pre-pandemic level of 87.4 percent. Mace noted, though, that …
