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Mergers and acquisitions within the seniors housing and long-term care industry dipped during the third quarter, according to new data from Irving Levin Associates.

The firm’s LevinPro LTC platform found that there were 107 deals in the third quarter of 2021 which is a 4% decline when compared to the 111 transactions during the second quarter this year. However, it’s 78% higher than the 60 public deals in the industry announced during the third quarter of 2020. 

Additionally, findings showed that $5.3 billion was spent on third-quarter transactions this year — a 20% drop from this year’s second quarter. Overall, there were 69 seniors housing transactions and 37 skilled nursing deals for a combined 11,460 beds. 

“Investors remained active despite the shortage and rising costs of labor, the delta variant and another round of provider relief,” Ben Swett, the firm’s report editor, said of the findings. 

“With healthy capital markets and continued low-interest rates, we should see M&A activity rise even higher in the fourth quarter and into 2022,” he added. 

The findings come after several predictions from stakeholders said the industry could expect to see increased M&A activity over the next several years as operators financially recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.