Top Senior Housing Trends for 2024
Though a few months into the new year, it’s still important to recognize the new trends that come with 2024, and the senior living industry has plenty of new challenges and opportunities.
With multiple stories of operators shutting down or in distress, and ending with assisted living being slammed in the recent Washington Post series., 2023 was a hard year endured for those pursuing 55+ opportunities.
However, 2024 brings hope with more occupancy momentum and the regaining pre-pandemic census levels by the year’s end. The pressing demand from the baby boomer generation is expected to keep occupancy gains flowing into 2025 and beyond.
According to Senior Housing News, The senior living sector appears to be undergoing what might be called a “great rebalancing,” which would see assisted living overtake independent living as the most prevalent offering.
It’s been no secret that the senior living industry has seen an influx of needs-based demand in the post-pandemic era – one needs only look at the most recent occupancy report from NIC MAP Vision.
Although “recovery trajectories and timelines continued to be uneven” in 2023, according to NIC Principal Omar Zahraoui, assisted living has helped buoy occupancy results in the past year. The product type added census at a faster rate than independent living in the third quarter of 2023, with occupancy improving by 0.9 percentage points to 82.6%, according to NIC MAP Vision. Assisted living operators in secondary markets have already reached pre-pandemic totals with rates of 84.3% in the third quarter of the year.
“Majority independent living properties house more residents compared to assisted living. Yet, if the high-acuity trend persists, we might see a shift with more residents in assisted living than independent living in the coming years,” Zahraoui told SHN earlier this year.
