Brentwood, TN-based Brookdale Senior Living and Toledo, OH-based real estate investment trust Welltower maintain their top spots on the 2022 American Seniors Housing Association’s ASHA 50 lists of largest senior living operators and owners, respectively, released last week.
Largest operators
The largest 50 senior living operators manage a total of 523,888 units, with the five largest operators accounting for one-third (35%) of the total.
Brookdale remains the largest operator, with a total of 55,581 units.
Atria Senior Living moved into the No. 2 spot, up from No. 7 last year, with 43,902 units after acquiring the operations of a large portfolio of Holiday Retirement communities, now known as Holiday by Atria.
Rounding out the top five largest operators on the 2022 list are LCS (32,988 units), dropping from No. 2 in 2021 to No. 3; Sunrise Senior Living (27,376 units) maintaining its position at No. 4; and Erickson Senior Living (24,642 units), moving up from No. 6 to No. 5 after changing its name from Erickson Living in 2021.
Rounding out the top 10 operators were AlerisLife (formerly Five Star Senior Living) moving from No. 5 in 2021 to No. 6; Senior Lifestyle, moving up from No. 8 in 2021 to No. 7; Discovery Senior Living, jumping from No. 10 in 2021 to No. 8, Greystar Real Estate Partners, moving into the top 10 from No. 11 last year to No. 9 this year, and Watermark Retirement Communities, dropping from No. 9 in 2021 to No. 10.
Atria added more than 22,000 units to its managed portfolio between 2021 and 2022. Other operators posting significant growth numbers in the past year included Discovery (3,428 units), Integral Senior Living (3,048 units), Greystar (2,694 units) and Sagora Senior Living (2,134 units).
Largest owners
The total number of units owned by the largest 50 U.S. senior living owners in the 2022 ASHA 50 rankings is 563,850, with the largest five owners accounting for 42% of the total.
The list of the top five largest owners remains unchanged from 2021.
Welltower is still the largest senior living owner, with 90,178 units, expanding its owned portfolio by 20,620 units since 2021 — including the acquisition of the portfolio of Holiday Retirement communities. The REIT’s CEO and chief investment officer, Shankh Mitra, on a earnings call said that Welltower had had one of its most active starts for investment activity in its history in the second quarter.
Ventas stayed in the No. 2 position on the list of largest owners, with 66,208 units after adding 7,958 units in the past year. The Chicago-based REIT was followed on the list by Brookdale, with 30,335 units; Diversified Healthcare Trust, with 25,195; and Harrison Street (formerly Harrison Street Real Estate Capital), with 23,470 units.
American Healthcare REIT jumped from No. 26 in 2021 to No. 6, adding 8,392 units in the past year, whereas Santerre Health Investors (formerly DigitalBridge Group) dropped to No. 7 from No. 6 in 2021. Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors moved up to No. 8 after holding the No. 10 spot last year. Bridge Seniors Housing Fund Manager moved into the top 10 from No. 11 last year to No. 9, whereas National Health Investors dropped from No. 7 in 2021 to No. 10 this year.
Acts Retirement–Life Communities ranks as the largest not-for-profit owner, with 9,361 units, followed by National Senior Communities (9,133 units), Presbyterian Homes & Services (8,347 units), HumanGood (5,821 units) and Covenant Living Communities & Services (5,662 units).
The rankings are based on data current as of June 1. Each list includes 50 companies. See the complete operator and owner lists on ASHA’s website.
