Continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) that charge entrance fees had higher occupancy in the first quarter of 2025 compared to those that have rental payment structures.

That’s according to a new analysis from the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care (NIC), which tracked occupancy at 571 entrance fee and 488 rental CCRCs in 99 primary and secondary markets in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year. NIC also conducted a similar analysis in 2024.

NIC’s latest analysis showed entrance-fee CCRCs carried an average occupancy rate of 91.6% in the first quarter of 2025 across all 99 markets. For comparison, rental CCRCs in the 99 markets carried an average occupancy rate of 88.7% in the same period. Those averages are 1.5 percentage points and 3.1 percentage points lower, respectively, than peak occupancy totals last seen in the first quarter of 2008.

Total senior living occupancy reached 87.4% as of the first quarter of 2025, according to NIC.

“Moving into an entrance-fee CCRC requires a greater financial commitment than the rental CCRC communities, contributing to higher retention and stability,” Omar Zahraoui, senior principal at NIC told Senior Housing News. “These communities also tend to have higher pre-sale requirements and longer resident tenure, which buffers against occupancy volatility.”

Entrance-fee CCRCs in the northeast region of the U.S. reached the highest occupancy rate of all the CCRC regions in the first quarter, landing at 93.4%, only points below the region’s occupancy peak of 94.9% in the first quarter of 2008. Rental CCRCs in the same region closed the quarter at 91.7%, compared to the peak of 94.6% in 2008.

Independent living carried the highest occupancy differences between the product types in entrance-fee and rental CCRCs, with an average rate of 93% for IL units in entrance-fee CCRCs and 90.4% for the same kind of units in rental CCRCs.

Residents of entrance-fee independent living units paid 4% more in monthly rent on average than they did in the first quarter of 2024, landing at $4,253; while independent living residents in rental CCRCS paid 3.7% more in that period, with an average of $3,831.

The greatest level of inventory change year-over-year came in assisted living for both entrance fee and rentals, according to the report. Total inventory in the first quarter of 2025 grew by 1.4% for entrance fee communities, while it shrunk by 2.8% for rentals. Rentals saw decreases across all unit types, including a 1.9% decrease in independent living, a 0.2% decrease in memory care and 1.9% in nursing care.

Entrance-fee CCRCs saw splits for inventory. Alongside its assisted living growth, independent living inventory grew 0.6%, though memory care and nursing care both decreased by 0.3% and 0.6% respectively.