The UK care home sector remains resilient with operators seeing a 3% increase in occupancy rates and several operators are now trading well above pre-pandemic levels, according to Knight Frank’s 2023 UK Care Homes Trading Performance Review.
The report found occupancy within the UK care home market is improving towards a normalised state with rates across the UK up to 86.4% compared with last year’s 83.4%.
Operators are seeing increased demand for beds and average weekly fees are increasing by 9.6% to £1.074 per week, despite sector-wide EBITDARM having tracked back slightly to 25%.
Julian Evans, head of healthcare at Knight Frank, said: “Overall, the trends presented in this report have, once more, highlighted the case for healthcare. The sector has been a topic of concern regarding its ability to weather storms ahead, and this is something that it continues to do tremendously well – for example, steady improvements in average occupancy year on year and the minimal compression of EBITDARM margins.
“While inflationary pressures are evident through rising utility costs, we are hopefully through the worst. With the economy beginning to compose itself, we seem safer from irregular flections and therefore hope to see operational costs stabilise somewhat in the coming year. We are, and always have been, optimistic about the sector’s outlook.”
Ryan Richards, associate at Knight Frank, added: “Amidst the challenges of an inflationary environment, the UK care home sector has shown remarkable resilience. The rise in occupancy and growing demand for beds highlights the sector’s poignance as the UK’s population continues to age exponentially.”
