An average one-bedroom apartment in an assisted living community can cost $35,000. According to the paper, the tough housing market has kept many seniors - who had planned on selling their homes to raise the money - from moving out. Faced with dropping occupancy rates, many facilities are giving new residents flexibility.
"These days, many facilities are deferring rent until their target residents can sell their homes, or at the very least are offering lower move-in rates," Mary Jo Leste, chief executive of Senior Smart, told the paper.
To help seniors move into the facility, the paper reports that many families are turning to "intra-family loans," which allow their children to take out a loan to help in the moving process while they try to sell their home.
Researchers say property values may never recover to the levels they were before the crash. Analysts for the Center for Economic and Policy Research told the New York Times that it will take 20 years to attain their previous levels, but inflation will negate most of those gains.
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