Seniors Housing Holds Investors' Interest

CHICAGO—Housing for senior citizens came through the Great Recession with a solid reputation for healthy returns, and the signs of increased interest in the sector were obvious at this week’s National Investment Center’s National Conference in Chicago. John D. Cobb, the executive vice president and CIO of Ventas, Inc., for example, pointed out during an afternoon session that ten or fifteen years ago the same conference attracted about 500 participants, while this year the hallways and ballrooms of the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers thronged with about 2,000 conference goers.

And the recent rise in interest rates does not seem to have dampened enthusiasm. Cobb and several other practitioners in the sector hashed out this and other factors that could affect valuations in the coming year during a October 10 discussion led by Charles Bissell, principal and national team leader for Integra Realty Resources.