Rent Growth Slows In 2025, Reflecting ‘inflation Fatigue’ Among Senior Living Residents

After hitting new peaks in the first quarters of 2023 and 2024, senior living rent growth is decelerating in 2025 as residents tire of cost inflation, according to a new analysis.

The analysis from LivingPath, an online platform that collects and provides data on senior housing communities, is based on information from nearly 300,000 senior living units in 2025.

Average independent living rate growth ranged between 6.6% to 8.5%, depending on unit type, according to LivingPath’s analysis. Assisted living base rents ranged 7.1% to 7.8% so far this year, and memory care unit rates ranged from 6.5% for companion units to 7.3% for private units.

The increases in 2025 are lower than what was seen between 2023 and 2024. In 2024, annual rate growth peaked at 11.2% for independent living, 10.8% for assisted living and 11.5% for memory care.

While lower than 2023 levels, Woodrow told Senior Housing News prices are still growing close to double the historical norm of 3% to 5%.

“It’s a reflection of where the senior living market sits today,” he said. “Demand is steadily increasing, but most folks in the sector understand prices can’t increase at the same post-Covid elevated levels forever.”

The latest data suggests that senior living rental rate increases are “normalizing” after multiple years of rapid growth. While the industry reached a new baseline for resident rate increases in 2023 and 2024, residents and prospects are feeling “inflation fatigue” and operators risk alienating them with further steep increases, Woodrow said.

Rental rate growth in 2025 slowed for studio and one-bedroom units in independent living, which “indicates a realignment with affordability concerns,” given that these units often attract the most price-sensitive consumers. Rental rate growth further slowed for two-bedroom units in independent living, which Woodrow said “reflects an upper threshold for how much IL residents are willing to pay in certain markets, especially as fixed incomes tighten.”

“Independent living shows a soft landing, not a sharp pullback, which reflects steady demand coupled with more targeted pricing strategies relative to prior years,” Woodrow wrote.

Rental rate growth also slowed for assisted living communities in LivingPath’s dataset, including for entry-level shared units. That suggests “pricing recalibration by operators to maintain competitiveness for vacant inventory and manage occupancy in a more normalized inflation environment,” according to Woodrow.

Rental rate growth also slowed for studio one- and two-bedroom units in assisted living settings, signaling how “AL operators are recalibrating to remain competitive, especially in submarkets with lots of vacant AL inventory or emerging middle-market pressures,” Woodrow said.

“The correction could indicate providers overestimated increases they could achieve in 2024,” Woodrow wrote.

Shared memory care units saw the steepest drop-off in rent growth as factors like census management and acuity creep added volatility. Rate growth for private memory care units, which showed relative stability between 2022 and 2024, also slowed this year, indicating “price sensitivity even in higher-acuity populations, as families weigh cost against necessity,” according to Woodrow.

Looking ahead, Woodrow believes operators will shift their focus to resident retention, value-based differentiation and more demand-driven adjustments.

“Operators are by-and-large needing to navigate an environment with more inflation-weary consumers, but also an environment with steadily increasing demand for the product,” Woodrow said. “This dataset is telling us that operators are already starting to account for a more price-elastic consumer than in years past across most markets.”

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