Senior housing occupancy across NIC MAP's combined primary and secondary markets, the top 99 metro areas across the US, reached 90.1% in the second quarter of 2026. That’s the highest rate the sector has posted since late 2007, before the financial crisis reshaped capital markets and development activity, and the highest ever recorded since NIC MAP began tracking secondary markets in 2008.

Primary markets, the top 31 metros NIC MAP has tracked since its founding, stood at 89.9% for the quarter. Fifty-seven of the 99 markets are each above 90% occupied, and 23, including Boston, Jacksonville, and San Francisco, have passed 92%.

Gains extended across property types. Majority independent living communities reached 91.5% occupancy, a level they surpassed more than a year ago, while majority assisted living communities reached 88.6% and are on track to exceed 90% by early to mid-2027 at their current pace, according to NIC MAP.

The occupancy increases came even as construction activity moved in the opposite direction. Units under construction across primary and secondary markets fell below 24,000, the lowest level since mid-2012, with construction starts remaining at historically low levels. In his blog, NIC analyst Dustin Shandri noted that after the last comparable low in 2012, it took four years for starts to return to their prior peak, and a typical two-year lag between groundbreaking and opening means substantial new inventory is unlikely to reach the market before 2030 at the earliest.

Shandri said demand absorption has outpaced inventory growth for several years and NIC MAP expects that gap to persist through at least the end of the decade, a dynamic that favors operators already positioned in the market ahead of the next supply cycle.

To read the full blog, visit https://www.nicmap.com/blog/senior-housing-construction-trends/