The number of publicly announced seniors housing and care acquisitions in the third quarter of 2020 fell to a new recent low, with 58 deals announced, based on new acquisition data from Irving Levin Associates. This represents a 3% decline from the 60 transactions in the previous quarter, but a 44% drop from the 104 deals made public in the third quarter of 2019. However, the $1.48 billion spent on the third-quarter transactions surpassed the previous quarter’s total of $1.36 billion by 9%, based on publicly disclosed prices. But, compared with the third quarter of 2019, which saw $5.74 billion spent, dollar volume was 74% lower. “The pandemic continues to stymie deal making in the seniors housing and care sector,” says Ben Swett, editor of The SeniorCare Investor. “Difficulty in obtaining acquisition financing, third-party approvals and property inspections, along with serious questions about how the time it will take for occupancy and operations to recover has caused many buyers to either delay or hit the pause button on deal making right now.”