Welltower Earnings Boosted by Senior Housing Acquisitions

Welltower, the country’s largest senior housing landlord, reported another strong quarter with increased pricing power and ample acquisitions.

During its third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday morning, the Ohio-based real estate investment trust (REIT) reported its profits were up 24.6 percent per share year-over-year, with occupancy throughout its portfolio at 88 percent. Welltower continues to buy properties at a healthy clip, while it executes a long-term move to offload a significant slice of its outpatient medical properties.

Welltower’s normalized funds from operations (FFO) were $1.67 per share, up 24.6 percent annually. This company figure excludes line items like debt payments, transactions costs and legal fees. 

The REIT’s revenue totaled $3.7 billion between July and September, up roughly 38 percent from $2.7 billion over the same three-month period in 2025. 

Instead of large-scale mergers and acquisitions — which Shankh Mitra, CEO of Welltower, said they “avoid like the plague” — the REIT has completed 196 different transactions this year, with $21 billion in investments completed or under contract so far. Within the third quarter, Welltower acquired 43 senior housing properties for $2.7 billion.

Despite this activity, Mitra told investors that it acquires less than 3 percent of the assets it screens.

Welltower is primed to buy on distress, said Nikhil Chaudhri, co-president and chief investment officer of Welltower, noting the roughly $8 billion of U.S. senior housing debt due in 2026.

“While some owners may recapitalize, most will sell as the impact of rising rates offsets improved industry fundamentals,” Chaudhri said. “That is where Welltower comes in.”

Welltower has offloaded $2.1 billion worth of outpatient medical assets so far this year, including 25 properties within the quarter. Sales weren’t exclusive to medical offices, however. Earlier this month, Brookdale Senior Living announced it acquired 30 communities leased from Welltower for $290 million. 

Net income totalled $414.8 million for the quarter, up from $282 million in the third quarter of 2025. Its long-term senior housing portfolio, in particular, posted a 21 percent year-over-year increase, marking 16 consecutive quarters of compounding growth. 

While occupancy increased over the year, company leadership said the driver of revenue growth has shifted to pricing power. Average monthly revenue per occupied unit rose 5.3 percent over the quarter, an uptick attributed to shrinking system capacity alongside robust pricing from luxury senior living communities.

Other expenses — which include seasonal line items like transactions costs and legal fees — nearly tripled over the year from from $44.7 million to $124.7 million. Those costs included restructuring efforts from the 2025 acquisition of more than 600 U.K. senior housing properties across four operator portfolios, which received clearance from U.K. authorities last month.

Despite lucrative acquisitions and encouraging occupancy rates, Mitra told gathered investors on Tuesday that senior housing’s upward trajectory should not be treated as a “sure bet” by passive investors.

“Perhaps we will be proven wrong, and catchphrases like demographics or silver tsunami will bail out everyone,” Mitra said. “Let me make it abundantly clear. We don’t think so. The world is becoming more complex, more interconnected, and more volatile by the day.”

Emily Davis can be reached at edavis@commercialobserver.com.