Who should own senior housing?

The senior housing industry provides housing and care services to elderly people who are in need of social support and medical assistance. For the financing and ownership of rented senior residential property, the two structures most used are integrated healthcare companies and healthcare real estate investment trusts (REITs). This study compares the accounting performance of housing property owned by integrated companies and healthcare REITs. The results of the analysis show that the real estate returns of healthcare REITs are superior when housing is separated from care, as it is in the independent living segment. However, when care is more intense and housing services more intertwined with it, integrated healthcare companies obtain superior returns on real estate.