Entrance fees for continuing care retirement communities have outperformed rentals in the first quarter of 2025, according to a study by NIC.
The organization looked at regional occupancy rates for both entrance fee (571) and rental (488) CCRCs in 99 primary and secondary markets. However, none of the regions matched their peak occupancy that was seen in the first quarter of 2008.
For rentals, the regional Q1 occupancy versus peak were 88% versus 91.2% in East North Central; Mid-Atlantic, 89.7% versus 94.8%; Mountain, 87.3% versus 90.8%; Northeast, 91.7% versus 94.6%; Pacific, 90% versus 92.9%; Southeast, 88.4% versus 92.7%; Southwest, 87% versus 90.3%; and West North Central, 86.7% versus 90.9%. The average across the 99 markets was 88.7% versus 91.8%.
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For entrance fees, the regional Q1 occupancy versus peak was 90.9% versus 93.0% in East North Central; Mid-Atlantic, 92.9% versus 94.6%; Mountain, 90.6% versus 93.6%; Northeast, 93.4% versus 94.9%; Pacific, 91.1% versus 93.6%; Southeast, 90% versus 91.5%; Southwest, 88.8% versus 94.2%; and West North Central, 88.8% versus 92.5%. The average across the total 99 markets was 91.6% compared with 93.1%.
Entrance fees outperformed rental CCRCs in occupancy rates in each region. The highest entrance fee occupancy was 93.4% in the Northeast, which was closest to its Q1 2008 high of 94.9%, the difference being only 150 basis points. Southwest, at 88.8%, was furthest behind its peak of 94.2%, a difference of 540 basis points.
Again, in rental CCRCs, the Northeast had the highest occupancy at 91.7% in the first quarter of 2025. The lowest was West North Central at 86.7%. The closest gap between current and high was the Pacific (290 basis points). The widest gap was in the Mid-Atlantic (510 basis points).
As for the care segment, independent living had 152,757 entrance fee units, with 93% occupancy and an average asking monthly rent of $4,253. The 49,459 rental units in the sector were at 90.4% occupancy, with an average asking monthly rent of $3,831.
Assisted Living had 28,447 entrance fee units at 90.6% occupancy with a $7,827 average asking monthly rent. There were 21,748 rental units with 90.2% occupancy and an average asking monthly rent of $6,265.
Memory care had 9,035 entrance fee units with 90.4% occupancy and a $9,606 average asking monthly rent. That compares to 6,103 rental units at 90.2% occupancy and $8,021 average asking monthly rent.
The last segment was nursing care, with 42,435 entrance fee beds at 87.5% occupancy and $463 average asking monthly rent. There were 47,736 beds at 86.1% occupancy, averaging monthly rents of $403.
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