Construction of New Senior Living Units Falls to Lowest Level Since 2012

Increase in occupancy seen across senior housing types: Independent living occupancy was above 91%, and assisted living occupancy was 87.9%.

Senior housing occupancy continues to climb as demand accelerates and new development stalls, further limiting availability for older adults, according to new data from NIC MAP.

Senior housing occupancy gained 0.4 percentage points to 89.5% in the first quarter of 2026, from 89.1% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The number of occupied senior housing units increased by more than 3,000 in the first quarter of 2026, to a total of 637,000.

At the same time, new units under construction fell to their lowest level since 2012, and year-over-year inventory growth hit a record low of 0.4%, suggesting new supply is unlikely to accelerate in the near term.

The increase in occupancy was seen across senior housing types. Independent living occupancy was above 91%, and assisted living occupancy was 87.9%. Ten markets had occupancy rates above 90% in the first quarter, compared to 7 last quarter. Boston (93.6%), Baltimore (91.8%), and San Francisco (91.6%) had the highest occupancy rates, while Atlanta (86.0%), Miami (86.2%), and Las Vegas (87.0%) had the lowest.

"We aren't yet seeing new development pick up, and the bottleneck is largely on the capital side, not from lack of demand," said Lisa McCracken, NIC's head of research and analytics. "As a result, investors favor acquiring existing properties over new construction, which puts pressure on the availability of senior housing for the consumer." NIC analysts believe occupancy is on track to surpass 90% well before year end.

Of note, while occupancy across senior housing segments climbed overall, active adult communities saw a moderate occupancy decline of 0.7 percentage points to 91.2% in the first quarter. NIC experts said older adults may be waiting for the single-family housing market to improve before choosing to move, as many sell their homes before transitioning to active adult rental communities.

to view the newly released data, click here