Senior Housing First Quarter Investment Performance Was Strongest in Nearly a Decade

Senior housing investment performance in the first quarter of 2026 continued to gain speed, posting a total return of 3.9%, the property type’s highest total return since the fourth quarter of 2017. Overall, senior housing during the quarter outperformed the broader NCREIF Property Index’s (NPI) total return of 1.2% by 267 basis points, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of index outperformance.

Breaking out return contribution, senior housing capital appreciation in the first quarter was 2.5%. The capital appreciation return is the change in value net of any capital expenditures incurred during the quarter. Senior housing income return in the first quarter was also positive, yielding 1.4%. Both appreciation and income posted their highest quarterly gains since 2017.

Over the one-year period, senior housing strongly outperformed all NCREIF Property Type Subindexes, posting the only double-digit total return at 12.8%, which was 2.5 times the NPI’s total return of 4.9% and well ahead of the second highest return of 7.8% for self-storage properties. Over the longer run, senior housing has outperformed the NPI over the three-, five-, 10-, 15-, and 20-year periods.

These performance measures reflect the returns of 219 senior housing properties valued at $14.0 billion in the first quarter. Overall, the number of senior housing properties tracked within the NPI has grown significantly from the 56 properties initially tracked in 2003, a reflection of increased institutional investment in the property type.

In the first quarter and over the one-year period, assisted living and independent living posted comparable returns, a reversal of recent trends in which independent living outperformed assisted living over the three- and five-year periods.

The broader market fundamentals remain favorable, with occupancy rates climbing as demand for senior housing continues to accelerate and development remains stalled. Senior housing occupancy for the 31 Primary Markets tracked by NIC MAP gained 0.4 percentage points to 89.5% in the first quarter of 2026. This was the 19th consecutive quarter of increasing occupancy rates. At the current pace of development and demand, senior housing occupancy is on track to surpass 90% occupancy well before the end of the year, further tightening availability across many markets.