Life plan communities (LPCs), also known as continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), offer a distinctive value: independent living options coupled with a full continuum of care when residents need it. Although LPC occupancy declined during the worst of the COVID‑19 pandemic, these communities held up better than many other senior living segments. Now that several years have passed since the pandemic began, what does the occupancy outlook look like for LPCs?
A reliable source for life plan community occupancy data
For industry data, the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC) gathers and analyzes nationwide information on senior housing and care. NIC’s research is widely used by operators and investors to track occupancy, pricing, supply and demand, and construction activity across senior living markets.
NIC MAP Vision, a NIC partner, compiles primary source data from more than 16,000 senior living and care communities across roughly 140 U.S. metropolitan areas. That dataset includes over 1,160 life plan communities, representing both not‑for‑profit and for‑profit operators, and both entrance‑fee and rental models. These analytics provide an impartial view of the LPC sector and how it compares to non‑LPC senior living markets.
NIC has also worked with Ziegler Investment Banking to deepen market insights into LPC occupancy and trends. Ziegler specializes in healthcare and senior living finance, and its June 2024 analysis points toward a cautiously optimistic outlook for the LPC sector.
Life plan occupancy rates for Q1 2024
Ziegler reviewed NIC MAP® data for Q1 2024 and compared those figures to Q1 2023. NIC categorizes LPCs into four care segments:
- Independent living
- Assisted living
- Memory care
- Skilled nursing
The Q1 2024 data show that overall occupancy in the LPC sector is trending upward. Independent living led all segments with 91.0% occupancy in Q1 2024, up 1.1 percentage points year over year.
Assisted living and memory care within LPCs each approached 89% occupancy in Q1 2024. Both segments showed notable year‑over‑year gains: assisted living grew about 2.8% and memory care rose roughly 3.4% compared with Q1 2023.
Skilled nursing (nursing homes) within LPCs had the lowest occupancy at 85.1% in Q1 2024, but this segment also experienced year‑over‑year growth of about 2.0%, indicating rising demand for skilled nursing care.
The Q1 2024 findings suggest steady recovery and increasing utilization across the LPC care continuum.
Digging deeper into the data
Examining the segment trends reveals that independent living maintains the highest occupancy level but showed the smallest year‑over‑year increase among the four segments. Memory care posted the largest year‑over‑year gain, followed by assisted living.
These trends in assisted living and memory care mirror broader patterns across the senior living industry: both LPC and non‑LPC communities are seeing similar year‑over‑year growth in those segments. Still, LPCs outperformed non‑LPC properties across all segments in Q1 2024. The biggest gap was in independent living, where LPCs reported occupancy approximately 5.7 percentage points higher than non‑LPC independent living communities.
Regional, contract, and ownership differences
There are a few important caveats. The reported numbers are national averages, and occupancy can vary significantly by region and market. Additionally, the inventory of skilled nursing beds within LPCs has declined in recent years — including a 1.6% drop from 2023 to 2024 — which affects comparisons of skilled nursing occupancy between years.
Occupancy also differs by contract type and ownership model. In Q1 2024, entrance‑fee LPCs reported about 90.6% occupancy, while rental LPCs were around 86.6%. Non‑profit LPCs had approximately 89.9% occupancy compared with for‑profit LPCs at about 87.2% for the same period. These distinctions are meaningful for consumers and investors evaluating specific communities.
Trending in the right direction
The pandemic produced a sharp drop in occupancy across senior living. In late 2019, just before the pandemic, LPCs reported roughly 91.2% overall occupancy while non‑LPC properties averaged about 86.3%. During the pandemic, entrance‑fee LPCs fell below 87%, rental LPCs dropped under 80%, and non‑LPC properties fell below 75% at their nadir.
Recent data, however, offer encouraging news. For Q1 2024, overall LPC occupancy stood at about 89.2%, bringing the sector much closer to its pre‑pandemic levels. This recovery highlights the resilience of the senior living industry and the continued appeal of LPCs’ continuum‑of‑care model for older adults seeking long‑term peace of mind.
If you are considering a life plan community, research is key — including reviewing the financial strength of any organization you are evaluating. Use available resources to learn more and assess a community’s financial and operational health before making a decision.