Omega Sees Maplewood Occupancy Rising, ‘active’ Investment Pipeline Ahead

A favorable supply-demand landscape for senior housing and an “active” pipeline of investment opportunities represent tailwinds for  Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI) in 2025, according to the company’s leaders.

The Hunt Valley, Maryland-based real estate investment trust (REIT) reported that its 17 communities managed by Maplewood Senior Living were as of the fourth quarter of 2024 sitting on a 91% occupancy rate with “strong rent” payment in January, according to Chief Investment Officer Vikas Gupta.

The operator had previously run into a “modest liquidity crunch” in 2023, prompting Omega to restructure the portfolio. That restructuring included right-sizing the operator’s rent, which Gupta said is now “sustainable,” especially as occupancy continues to rise ahead. Overall Omega paid about $1 million more in quarterly rent in 2024 than it did in the previous year.

“We feel very good about Maplewood at the moment,” Gupta told investors and analysts during the REIT’s fourth-quarter call Thursday.

Omega’s senior housing portfolio includes 353 communities, representing more than a third of its total investments.

Maplewood’s Inspir Carnegie Hill community in New York City also is making good progress and is currently operating with an 85% occupancy rate. Gupta added the Maplewood team is confident in the property’s ability to also exceed an average occupancy rate of 90% this year.

“We just have to see how this plays out over the next few months,” he added. “It will still take one to two years to stabilize the entire relationship.”

Looking ahead, Omega also has an active acquisition pipeline across its senior housing and skilled nursing interests. Throughout 2024, the company had $1.1 billion in new investments, varying in size and nature, with roughly a third being dedicated to real estate loans. The majority of the new investments in 2024 were dedicated to the U.K., where competition is less stiff than in the U.S.

In 2025, Gupta said Omega sees “marketed opportunities, both in the US and the UK, while also benefiting from off market opportunities that … existing operating partners and other relationships bring.”

“The pipeline looks strong,” Gupta said. “It’s a little bit more heavily weighted right now in the U.K., but that can change as things progress. We’re mostly looking at small, mid-sized deals at this time, a bit more real estate focused, which we’re just going to continue to pursue more than loans at this time.”

In the coming months, Omega sees unknowns from the impact of the new Trump administration, among which could be how immigration policies impact labor. At this time, the company has not seen any impacts, but anticipates it could have an effect on labor, particularly in more rural markets.

“The immigration policy is definitely going to play into that, to the extent that we can legally bring in immigrants to supplement the nursing force,” Megan Krull, senior vice president of operations, said. “We’ll just have to wait to see how that all progresses.”

Omega’s stock closed at $38.06, down 0.68% from the previous close.

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