**Senior Housing Demand Reaches All-Time High, While New Supply Falls Behind**
Demand for senior housing in the United States has surged to an all-time high, according to new data from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC). In the first quarter of 2025, occupancy rates rose by 0.3 percentage points to reach 87.4%, setting a new record with nearly 621,000 senior housing units now occupied.
“Older adults are moving into senior housing at a rapid pace, and that trend will continue given the wave of baby boomers and many more ‘solo agers’ who don’t have a caregiver to rely on as a safety net,” said Lisa McCracken, NIC’s head of research and analytics. “The industry needs to ramp up development for supply to catch up with demand, but we don’t foresee any meaningful movement here in 2025 given current market conditions.”
Despite the soaring demand, the pace of new senior housing development has slowed significantly. In the 31 major markets tracked by NIC, only 1,076 units began construction during the first quarter of 2025 — the lowest number recorded since the second quarter of 2009.
This growing imbalance between supply and demand underscores the urgent need for increased investment and development in the senior housing sector to accommodate the rapidly aging population.
