TAMPA, FL-Two brokers just closed 10% of Florida’s 2011 transaction volume in the senior housing sector in a single day. Kenneth and Damien Carriero of Colliers National Seniors Housing Group inked three deals on Oct. 19.

The Carrieros closed on two facilities in Florida, in St. Petersburg and in Palm Bay, and another in a suburb of Pittsburgh. There have been approximately 30 seniors housing closings in Florida this year, including skilled nursing, assisted living and independent living facilities.

“Since joining Colliers International, my radar screen has expanded to an international level,” Ken Carriero, regional director and senior vice president of Colliers’ National Seniors Housing Group, tells GlobeSt.com. “I have not only seen foreign investors seeking seniors housing assets in the US but have also witnessed domestic companies looking to expand to foreign markets. Asia, Australia and--to a lesser degree--Europe.”

Case in point: Bethesda on Turkey Creek, a 75,026-square-foot, 98-bed assisted living facility in Palm Bay. Originally built as a retirement home in the 1950s, it sold to a foreign buyer for $9.01 million. The transaction represented the highest price per unit paid in Florida in 2011 at $102,414. The asset was 98% occupied at the time of the sale. Carriero represented the seller, Bethesda Senior Care.

Carden House, a 28,608-square-foot, 60-unit limited mental health facility in St. Petersburg, sold to Health Care District, LLC. The Carrieros brokered the transaction between both the seller, Raghuvir Amin, and the buyer. The whole deal took four months.

Carriero has another 12 listings, nine of which are in Florida, along with some strong opinions on what 2012 will bring for the sector. As he sees it, skilled nursing facilities will struggle due to the $4 billion drop in annual payments from Medicare, representing over an 11.1% cut in reimbursement rates to these facilities.

“With that in mind, we will see smaller skilled nursing facilities being purchased by larger, institutional/corporate owners who can operate within economies of scale and ride out the budget cuts,” he says. “Independent living will continue to have a decline in occupancy until the residential real estate market stabilizes, allowing senior homeowners to sell their residence and make the move to a seniors housing residence.”

Although Carriero predicts assisted living occupancy will remain flat, those with a component of memory care will be the exception. As awareness grows of the need for specialized care in this area, he says, treatment of Alzheimer's, Dementia and similar conditions is one of the fastest-growing segments in this type of care.