Welltower Monetizes Senior Housing Data, Machine Learning Efforts In Deal With Self-storage Reit

Welltower (NYSE: WELL) has over the last decade built what it considers an industry-leading data science platform for senior housing. Now, the company is licensing that platform for use in other industries.

On Monday, the Toledo, Ohio-based senior housing and care REIT announced a new strategic partnership with Public Storage (NYSE: PSA), a self-storage REIT with more than 3,500 self-storage facilities across 40 states. With the deal, Welltower said it is now monetizing its decade-long effort of applying data science to real estate investments.

Public Storage is under the deal licensing Welltower’s data science platform to improve capital deployment “with greater velocity and precision on granular acquisitions,” the senior housing REIT noted in an announcement. Specifically, the company will use Welltower’s platform to hone in on submarkets that carry the greatest return and growth potential.

Welltower also is licensing its data science model for use with a private equity firm that has more than $60 billion of outpatient medical assets under management. The firm will use Welltower’s predictive models to select outpatient medical sites.

“While real estate is the world’s largest asset class, it has historically been characterized as a local, ‘gut-feel’ industry that has proven to be one of the most unscalable businesses. While some have attempted to scale the business through service models, we believe that the only way to truly scale this business is through the data generated by the assets,” Mitra said in a press release. “Harnessing the power of Welltower’s data science platform, Public Storage will be deploying quantitative models for the real world – a world of science and math, not language and images – trained on decades of actual, proprietary performance data. This will significantly accelerate capital allocation decisions, demonstrating a tangible, real-world application of AI.”

Welltower did not share terms of the newly announced deals.

Led by a team of computer scientists, engineers, statisticians and engineers, Welltower’s platform employs mathematical models and computing that “materially reduce latency in the system and increase velocity to market,” the company noted in a business update.

Welltower has deepened its data and machine learning efforts in part through its “tech quad,” made up of Chief Technology Officer Jeff Stott, former senior vice president at Extra Space Storage; Chief Data Science Officer Swagat Banerjee; Chief Innovation Officer Logan Grizzel; and Chief Information Officer Tucker Joseph.

Using that platform, Welltower management said it can make better decisions at scale in senior living, a business that is notoriously hard to scale, according to CEO Shankh Mitra. The REIT has decreased its timeline from initial engagement on a deal to closing to a matter of weeks, down from five to nine months previously. Welltower also has credited its business system with helping it allocate more than $80 billion in capital since 2016.

The monetization of Welltower’s data science platform “represents a further amplification of Welltower’s capital light revenue opportunities following launch of its Private Funds Management Business in 2025,” the company noted.

Welltower management believes the company’s data science platform is scalable across a multitude of industries that include not only medical office and self-storage but also retail, multifamily, industrial, car washes and bank branches.

As of the fourth quarter of 2025, Welltower’s SHOP segment numbered nearly 1,900 properties. That is on top of 430 triple-net communities and 583 long-term care and outpatient medical buildings.

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