Investors in the seniors housing and care space have always seemed to make skilled nursing a second-thought customer. Now, however, the demographics have become so positive, even skilled nursing is enjoying more time in the spotlight — and it should for a long time to come.

That’s according to Bill Kauffman, a senior principal at the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care, who keeps a close eye on skilled nursing matters.

“The optimism is certainly here, for sure,” he told McKnight’s Long-Term Care News Executive Editor James M. Berklan at the recent NIC spring conference in San Diego. “Especially over the next 10 years.”

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has traditionally been a strong capital provider for skilled nursing operators, Kauffman noted. But now that most major pandemic concerns have subsided, real estate investment trusts — including public ones — are also becoming more active.

With interest rates remaining high, the cost of capital remains the big question mark, Kauffman explained. But, he quickly added, he thinks “it’s just a matter of time” before skilled nursing funders take advantage and build more to accommodate the historic crush of baby boomers.

“You have a supply and demand situation for private pay seniors housing and have a supply and demand situation for skilled nursing — and they’re both positive,” he explained.

Listen in to hear more on what Kauffman thinks the key factors are and what moves providers must make to get more capital — and what they must spend at least some of it on to succeed.