WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Seniors Housing Association (ASHA), in partnership with Seniors Housing Business, has released the 2022 edition of the ASHA 50, which ranks the 50 largest owners and operators in the U.S. seniors housing space.
Based in Washington, D.C., ASHA is a trade association that advocates for and represents companies that develop, own, operate and finance seniors housing. The ASHA 50 rankings are based on self-reported portfolio sizes, ranked by total number of units, as of June 1, 2022. Data was also used from other reliable sources, such as public filings.
The top five owners — Welltower, Ventas, Brookdale Senior Living, Diversified Healthcare Trust and Harrison Street Real Estate Capital — all held their places from 2021.
The huge, publicly traded REITs all re-committed to the space in the last year. Welltower further cemented its position atop the list by increasing from 728 properties and 69,549 units to 903 properties and 90,178 units. Ventas also saw a major increase, from 645 communities totaling 58,250 units to 720 communities totaling 66,208 units.
Part of Welltower’s increase came from a big shake-up on the list of largest operators. Shortly after last year’s ASHA 50 was released, in a blockbuster deal for seniors housing, the seventh-largest operator of seniors housing in the United States (Atria Senior Living) acquired the third-largest (Holiday Retirement), with the largest owner in the country (Welltower) buying up a large portfolio of the affected assets.
The combined company, now flying under the Atria banner, removed Holiday from the list entirely while rocketing Atria from seventh on the list to second. Atria grew from 177 communities totaling 21,603 units to 358 communities totaling 43,902 units, leapfrogging stalwarts on the list such as LCS, Sunrise Senior Living, Erickson Senior Living and AlerisLife, which recently changed its name from Five Star Senior Living.
It was not nearly enough, though, to knock off the longtime largest operator in the industry. Brookdale Senior Living maintained its spot at the top of the list, though its portfolio did shrink slightly from 682 properties totaling 57,596 units to 668 properties totaling 55,581 units.
To read the digital edition of the ASHA 50, click here.
— Jeff Shaw