Senior living operators across multiple care types have increased Resident Rates between 8% and 10% through the first quarter of this year, according to LivingPath data.

The dataset from LivingPath — an online platform that provides pricing and other data for senior housing communities — shows that independent living rates grew between 8.7% and 9.1% in the first quarter of the year. Assisted living Increased Resident Rates communities 1Q23, resident rates as memory care resident rates increased between 8.6% and 9.8%.

The data included 773 IL, AL and memory care properties totaling 101,231 units.

“Going forward, look for operators’ continued rigor in analyzing and passing through increased labor costs and lingering PPE and other Covid-related expenses.,” LivingPath CEO Jonathan Woodrow told Senior Housing News. 

With care also increasing broadly, operators are innovating on care revenue and clawing back margins.

Care costs for residents were up 5.7% for AL and memory care with other clinical costs like medication management up $556 to $659 monthly in the first quarter, the data shows.

Community fees for AL increased 5.4%, 5.5% for AL and memory care 5.7% in the first quarter, the report said. The report defined community fees as the average, non-refundable fees required to move into a rental community, Woodrow said.

In the properties studied by LivingPath, the highest increases in the first quarter of the year came in one-bedroom IL units at 9.1% and 9.8% for private memory care suites

Rising care and rate costs appear to be the new norm, with operators having forecast double-digit increases this year. Rising interest rates this year and general cost inflation are also factors forcing operators to be more aggressive on care revenue and resident rates, threatening operators’ respective growth plans.

“I hear [operators] were raising rates by 8%-10% — we went in at 6%. But, the pressures forced us to have to make the difficult decision to do another one part way through the year,” Commonwealth Senior Living President and CEO Earl Parker told SHN earlier this year.
The push on rates and care revenue comes as the cost of living adjustment in 2023 for Social Security benefits jumped 8.7%.

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