Originally published on April 7, 2023 by Brett Widness for UrbanLand Magazine.

The senior housing occupancy rate increased 0.3 percentage points from 82.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 83.2 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to data from NIC MAP Vision released by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). The occupancy rate has increased 5.4 percentage points overall from a pandemic low of 77.8 percent in the second quarter of 2021 but remained 4.0 percentage points below the pre-pandemic high of 87.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020.

This represents the seventh consecutive quarterly occupancy rate increase, as a slowdown in inventory growth—0.3 percent from the prior quarter and 1.6 percent year-over-year, near the lowest year-over-year increase in inventory growth since 2013—is helping occupancy rates recover.

“The continued increase in senior housing occupancy rates was driven by positive net absorption coupled with limited new supply,” said Chuck Harry, NIC’s chief operating officer. “The likely ongoing recovery in senior housing fundamentals is further supported by the first quarter’s lowest rate of senior housing construction since 2014. And construction is expected to remain suppressed during this period of significantly higher financing costs.”