Senior Living Deal Pricing Trending Up In 2026 As M&a Stays Hot 

Senior living dealmakers have momentum as dynamics continue to evolve, pushing average prices higher.

Now, that is potentially leading to looser underwriting, according to NewPoint Real Estate Capital Healthcare Real Estate Investment Sales Managing Director Tim Cobb.

In December, NewPoint expanded its health care investment platform, tapping longtime financier Cobb to lead the company’s health care sales practice and begin offering brokerage services. In March of 2025, an affiliate of Benefit Street Partners acquired NewPoint to complete a “one stop shop” for financial services.

NewPoint’s health care investment platform now has bridge loan capabilities to deploy $500 million to $1 billion in bridge loans, having closed on approximately $100 million transactions as of December of 2025 spanning skilled nursing, memory care, assisted living and independent living properties, Cobb said.

This is part of the platform’s plan of “trying to be more selective” as opportunities remain plentiful, Cobb said, with skilled being “a primary focus” for the platform due to rising acuity and older demographic shifts.

“Everything is shifting,” Cobb said. “Assisted living and skilled nursing are becoming more similar outside of the reimbursement aspect,” Cobb said.

Cobb sees opportunities to transact IL-AL rental campuses that will also be “high on our priority list.”

NewPoint’s expansion is part of a wave of new firms investing in senior living and longtime investors shifting or expanding their investment strategies in the last five years. 

While senior living carries “too much operational and legislative risk” for property pricing alone to close a deal, pricing should “continue to move up” this year, Cobb told Senior Housing News.

“There is significant capital chasing the demographics and improving operating performance, particularly for assets with clean execution and credible sponsorship,” Cobb said.

Health care transactions can stall within the final 30 to 60 days of a deal due to financing and appraisal misalignment, operational risks surfacing late negotiations or indemnification issues “dragging on as both sides try to cap downside,” Cobb said, while underwriting conditions change.

Most buyers stayed relatively disciplined but those conditions got looser as debt capital and equity capital became more available, he added. To overcome those challenges, sellers can protect value before going to market by reducing “uncertainty early.”

Having strong, “clean” financials, stabilized operations, along with a concise capital plan and clear regulatory standing can also be ways sellers can protect pricing power headed to market.

Buyers continue to bring their own operators to a sale, with evaluation of operational strength coming from the “investor level,” Cobb noted, focusing on an operator’s track record, staffing capabilities and “the ability to execute consistently.”

“Today the availability of operators for a specific location will drive prices,” Cobb said. “In other words, more operators, more investors, higher prices.”

Older assets often carry “hidden capital” needs tied to the property’s age, while deals on newer properties can stall due to legal risk and “even small performance slips” that lenders and buyers can’t ignore, Cobb said.

The senior living industry currently faces an aging properties problem. Almost half of U.S. senior living communities are 25 years old or older, and nearly two-thirds are 17 years old or older. In the last three years, operators have been spending CapEx on expansions and renovations due to the historic lack of new development driven by financing and construction costs.

But, Cobb’s outlook remains rosy, given demographic tailwinds and operators improving their lifestyle and care models.

“Put on your seatbelt, this is going to be a wild ride,” Cobb said.

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