"We're seeing some accretive deals come our way," he said. "They'd have to be knock-your-socks-off accretive, but there are some pretty good deals coming down the pipe." Planned purchases this year will be made from Chartwell's third-party development partners.

The locally based REIT, which owns 248 senior-housing facilities in North America, in both Canada and the US, also has 10 properties currently under construction, a majority of them around Ontario. The company operates independent living facilities, retirement homes and long-term care properties.

Suske acknowledged that the credit crunch in the US is currently having some impact on getting acquisitions done. "All of the lenders are sitting on their hands now waiting for the capital markets correction in the US," he said.