Nursing home bed prices jumped to $90,700 during the first quarter of 2021 after four consecutive years of decline, according to new data from real estate and investment management firm JLL Valuation Advisory.
The firm’s fourth annual Seniors Housing Investor Survey and Outlook revealed the average price per bed for nursing homes increased by nearly 22% when compared to the first quarter of 2020. It’s the second-highest annual price point for nursing homes on record, data shows.
Skilled nursing bed prices reached $93,000 per bed in 2019 prior to the pandemic.
Researchers largely attributed the rise in bed prices to government stimulus funding and directly cited an estimated $4.9 billion distributed to nursing homes through the Department of Health and Human Services and an additional $100 billion funneled to qualified healthcare providers through the CARES Act.
The firm said the additional funding “essentially [helped] operators maintain cash flows, though questions loom on the long-term impact on valuations.”
Additionally, nursing care volume totaled $3.5 billion in 2020 — about a 35% decrease compared to the prior year. The downturn is “largely attributed to government support being targeted at nursing care, helping maintain investor confidence.”
“Investors remain bullish on seniors housing and care investments,” Zach Bower, JLL managing director, said in a statement. “We anticipate market fundamentals to steadily improve and the market to re-stabilize between two and four years, depending on the location.”
