Nursing care occupancy performance stable overall, but varies by market

The stability in nursing care market fundamentals continues, as occupancy remains essentially flat. In the third quarter of 2012, nursing care occupancy was 88.0 percent, an increase of 10 basis points from the prior quarter and a 30 basis point decline during the past year.

While occupancy continues to be stable nationally, there has been variation among the individual metropolitan markets during the past year. Select groups of metropolitan markets reported significant changes in occupancy. In California, Riverside and Sacramento experienced the most significant gains during the past year, with occupancy rising by approximately 170 basis points in each market. Conversely, four markets—Dallas; San Antonio; Portland, Ore.; and San Francisco—stand out as markets having the most significant declines. Portland and San Francisco experienced the largest occupancy declines during the past year at 160 basis points and 170 basis points, respectively.