Ziegler reviewed the results of their latest chief financial officer (CFO) hotline report on October 9, an annual query of CFOs on what their respective life plan communities are planning for annual independent living monthly fee increases in 2024.

As with the last two fiscal years, 2024’s monthly fee increases are projected to be above the pre-pandemic convention of 3%; the median 2024 projection was 5%. However, this indicates a slight drop from the 2023 actual median increase of 6%. Notably, the maximum actual reported increase in 2023 was 15%, and the maximum projected increase for 2024 was 12%.

When asked about mid-year cost-adjustment assessments to residents, only 7% reported that they had issued a mid-year increase, whereas 39.2% indicated they were considering such a mid-year adjustment in 2024. The data reported came from a nearly-even split between contract types, and the majority (62%) were single-site organizations. Rental contracts reported the highest average projected increase (5.16%,) followed by Type A (5.01%) and all trailed by Type C (4.85%.) By comparison, Type A contracts led the actual monthly fee increase average at 6.39% in 2023.

By far, the reason given for ongoing projected increases is increased wages and labor costs, followed by inflation, and then food costs. In the report’s comments, many CFOs noted that the passed-on increases to residents was trailing actual organizational costs, out of a desire not to exceed what residents could afford to pay.