Welltower lifts its 2026 normalized FFO guidance while cutting the NAREIT FFO guide

Welltower reported third-quarter 2026 net income of $415 million and net income attributable to common stockholders of $0.54 a diluted share, and lifted its full-year normalized FFO guidance while acquisitions enlarged the seniors housing portfolio and same-store NOI rose 15.8% from a year earlier.

Acquisitions expand the portfolio outside the same-store pool

Total revenues rose 38.4% from a year earlier to $3.72 billion, and resident fees and services, the line that carries seniors housing operating revenue, climbed 51.4%. The same-store pool contained 1,622 of the portfolio's 3,002 properties at quarter end. Pro rata seniors housing operating revenue rose to $3.17 billion from $2.1 billion, and the $1.25 billion attributable to properties outside the same-store pool, against $340.58 million a year earlier, supplied most of that increase. Same-store seniors housing revenue still grew 9.1% from a year earlier, so acquisitions and organic growth both contributed. The company completed $4.1 billion of pro rata gross investments in the quarter, including $2.7 billion across 43 seniors housing properties, and put year-to-date closings or signed deals at $21.0 billion, of which $13.3 billion closed in the first nine months. Disposals ran the other way: $484 million of pro rata dispositions and loan repayments in the quarter and $4.1 billion for the year.

Seniors housing growth comes from occupancy and rate

Same-store NOI rose 15.8% from a year earlier, led by the seniors housing operating segment at 21.0%; triple-net seniors housing added 4.2%, outpatient medical 2.4% and skilled nursing 2.8%. Inside the operating portfolio, same-store revenue grew 9.1% from a year earlier on 320 basis points of average occupancy gain and 5.3% higher revenue per occupied room, which separates filling beds and raising rates from simply owning more buildings. Same-store NOI rose 1.9% from the second quarter. Welltower's own 2026 assumption is blended same-store NOI growth of 15.0% to 16.25%, with the operating segment at 20.25% to 21.75%.

Normalizing items, HC-One and a larger share count

NAREIT FFO and normalized FFO differed by $0.25 a diluted share of normalizing items, against $0.14 a year earlier. The biggest single item was other expenses, which the release ties primarily to non-capitalizable transaction costs and legal fees, "including related to the HC-One Group operator restructuring." Reported net income also included a gain on real estate dispositions, which NAREIT FFO strips out. Normalized FFO rose 36.9% in dollars but 24.6% per diluted share from a year earlier, because the diluted share count grew 10.1%. The company said "Our earnings guidance includes only those acquisitions announced or closed to date."

Leverage rises with the portfolio, and the guide moves up

Net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 3.02x at September 30, against 2.36x a year earlier, and adjusted interest coverage improved to 7.66x from 6.90x. Net debt equaled 9.2% of consolidated enterprise value, and the company listed approximately $9.5 billion of available liquidity. In July it issued C$1.15 billion of senior unsecured notes at a 3.95% weighted-average coupon: C$750 million of 3.850% notes due 2031 and C$400 million of 4.150% notes due 2033. Guidance now puts net income at $3.31 to $3.37 a diluted share, up from $3.11 to $3.19, and normalized FFO at $6.47 to $6.53, up from $6.36 to $6.44. The clearer industry measure went the other way: NAREIT FFO guidance fell to $6.07 to $6.13 a diluted share from $6.21 to $6.29 as the gain on dispositions that NAREIT FFO excludes grew to $862 million from $545 million and depreciation rose to $2.93 billion from $2.85 billion. Normalizing items of $298 million, up from $111 million, are then added back to NAREIT FFO to reach the normalized range. The board declared a $0.85 dividend payable November 19 to holders of record November 10, the 222nd consecutive quarterly cash dividend.

A one-year outlook with no executive comment

The filing carries the results release as Exhibit 99.1 and a combined earnings release with supplemental schedules as Exhibit 99.2. Neither document quotes a named executive, and the outlook stops at December 31, 2026: the release warns that its guidance "does not include any additional investments, dispositions or capital transactions" beyond those already disclosed, and that expected investments not yet closed are "subject to customary closing conditions". Same-store guidance comes with no reconciliation to GAAP, which the company says would "imply a degree of precision that could be confusing or misleading to investors." Welltower scheduled a conference call for Tuesday, October 27, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss the results.