Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions). Our first question comes from Sheryl Skolnick – CRT Capital Group.
Sheryl Skolnick – CRT Capital Group.
Congratulations on all of the strategic initiatives you've pursued, etc. I guess where I'm coming out on this is in view of the deterioration in the Sunrise portfolio and the opposite results from Brookdale, I'm wondering if you would comment on your comments, Jay, from the last quarter, which we that you saw a tremendous opportunity to invest in the properties in the assisted living area.
Given the fact that no new capacity is coming online, given the fact that seniors – we are all aging and the seniors are aging even more so, so that perhaps coming out of this great recession the company might be better positioned. In view of the second quarter results from these companies you've seen to date, are you still of like mind?
Jay Flaherty
Yes, probably. If anything, we're probably more emboldened. Again, just to review our earlier comments from this year, if you compare where we are right now in 2009 to where we were arguably at the depths of the last senior housing downdraft, which would have been in the fourth quarter of 2002 and then compare just a couple of quick metrics.
Back then, industry-wide occupancies were in the low 70% area. This morning, as you've heard in our portfolio and in Brookdale's last night and other portfolios, they're generally in the mid to high-80s today.
Back in 2002, you had a significant amount of supply that had been developed and was just coming online. Ultimately, with the benefit of hindsight we now know that it took four years to absorb all that supply. You have nothing like that today, as we sit here today. And finally, there was a fair amount of additional construction financing that was being put to work back in '02 to fund even additional developments in senior housing.
Obviously with the credit markets being what they are, that doesn't exist as well. Despite that, you've got one constant. The baby boomer is aging. And that demand year-over-year is going up anywhere between 1.5% and 2%. So if anything, I would probably say we've shortened up our target investment period here as being between now and the next two and a half to three years.
We think this is going to be very, very good time to deploy capital into the senior housing space. We think looking back two and a half, three years from now, if we're able to buy good quality real estate at attractive prices, our shareholders will do quite well.
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