The share of operators reporting an acceleration in the pace of move-ins in the past 30 days has increased across all care and service segments, according to the results of the latest Executive Survey released by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care.
The survey included responses in April from owners and executives of 45 small, medium and large senior living and skilled nursing operators across the country, representing hundreds of buildings and thousands of units across respondents’ portfolios of properties. The number of properties owned or operated by survey respondents ranged from one to as many as 400.
Collectively across all care segments, approximately half (52%) of the participants said they saw an acceleration in the pace of move-ins in April.
“This marks the highest level of operators reporting an acceleration since April 2022, when 54% of organizations reported the pace of move-ins to be accelerating,” NIC Principal Ryan Brooks wrote. “However, this is still below the peaks experienced from April to July 2021, when approximately 60% of operators reported an acceleration in the pace of move-ins.”
More than half of assisted living (56%), memory care (56%) and independent living (52%) operators that participated in the survey reported an acceleration in the pace of move-ins. For independent living operators, this rate marks the third consecutive month with an increase, up from 37% of respondents in March and 27% in February.
Forty-four percent of nursing care operators (44%) reported an acceleration in the pace of move-ins, a rate up from 28% in March.
“The increasing proportion of organizations reporting an acceleration in the pace of move-ins is creating optimism with regard to the anticipated time frame for occupancy to recover to pre-pandemic (March 2020) levels,” Brooks noted.
