What is a sale-leaseback in senior housing?
Direct answer
A sale-leaseback is when you sell your community's real estate to an investor and lease it back, usually on a triple-net basis, while your operating company keeps running the community. You free up the capital tied up in the building without giving up operations.
What to know
The structure splits the business from the building. The buyer owns the real estate and collects rent. Your operating company keeps the license, the staff and the residents, and pays the property costs under the lease. Triple-net means the operator-tenant covers taxes, insurance and maintenance.
Owners use sale-leasebacks to fund growth, pay down debt or diversify personal wealth while staying in the business. The trade-off is permanent: you no longer own the building, the rent is a fixed obligation, and future flexibility depends on the lease terms, so the lease deserves as much negotiation as the price.
The same structure works in reverse for buyers: investors can buy senior housing real estate leased to an operator and collect rent without operating.
How Haven helps
Haven structures sale-leasebacks and other capital solutions for senior housing owners, working alongside lenders and investors. Explore our senior housing capital solutions.
Related questions
- What is a capital stack in senior living real estate development?
- How early should I start refinancing my senior housing loan?
- What steps should I take to refinance a senior housing loan before it matures?
- What are my options if refinancing cannot close before my loan matures?
- What do lenders require to refinance an assisted living facility?