Senior housing occupancy reaches lowest level on record

Senior housing occupancy in the United States decreased 1.3 percentage points in fourth quarter 2020 to 80.7 percent, a record low, according to new data from NIC MAP Data Service (NIC MAP) provided by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). Since first quarter 2020, occupancy has fallen by 6.8 percentage points.

“Senior housing occupancy declines were less pronounced in the fourth quarter than the previous two quarters, though the fourth quarter decline is still quite large from a historic perspective,” said Beth Burnham Mace, NIC’s chief economist. “The surge in COVID-19 cases following Thanksgiving and Christmas suggests further disruption lies ahead. That said, the recent distribution of the vaccines should soon provide some relief.”

The data show large disparities between occupancy rates across metropolitan markets. San Jose (88.5 percent), San Francisco (86.9 percent) and Seattle (84.8 percent) had the highest occupancy ra