Senior living providers are adding more independent living units to their portfolios in 2026 as demand for the product type stays hot.
Older adults want to age in place, the data continually shows. An AARP study in 2024 found that 75% of older adults want to stay in their homes as they grow older, but 44% of residents feel a move is “inevitable” due to rising acuity.
Senior living providers are expanding their independent living options for older adults to attract them before they reach the “inevitable” stage. As they do so, they are adding younger residents to their resident base while also familiarizing a new generation with their brands and services.
New senior living community openings are down this year compared to last year. Independent living occupancy exceeded 91% in the first quarter of this year, the first time occupancy in independent living was this high in a decade in both primary and secondary markets, NIC MAP data shows.
That strength in occupancy has given independent living and assisted living operators more room to accelerate growth of average annual asking rents.
The occupancy rate of independent living units in 2026 shows the “choice-driven demand from younger or healthier older adults” making the move into the product type, according to NIC Senior Principal Caroline Clapp.
In response to the demand for independent living, operators are shifting their unit mix to include more of those options, making way for new additions of independent living and taking on new management contracts for independent living properties.
Leaders of LifeSpire of Virginia have grown the operator’s independent living segment in the last five years. As it grows, the Glen Allen, Virginia-based senior living provider is aiming to maintain a ratio of 80% independent living and 20% higher levels of care, including assisted living and memory care, according to LifeSpire of Virginia President Jonathan Cook.
Leaders of LifeSpire of Virginia have shifted the organization’s unit mix toward more independent living. The operator’s most recent growth in that regard includes the addition of 18 cottages, two hybrid homes and a new amenity center at The Summit, the company’s life plan community in Lynchburg, Virginia. The $80 million renovation and expansion, first announced in 2024, added multiple new independent living residences, amenity spaces, and a wellness center.
“It’s a very intentional effort to try to get where we need to be to meet the needs of the residents in our communities today,” Cook told Senior Housing News.
Other operators expanding their independent living options include Pegasus Senior Living and Presbyterian Living.
Independent living growth tied to demand
LifeSpire of Virginia pivoted away from skilled nursing to offer more independent living across the organization’s life plan communities in recent years. For example, the nonprofit senior living provider modernized The Glebe life plan property through a $25 million renovation and expansion that added 22 independent living cottages and new contemporary dining venues.
The organization likes the “hybrid homes” concept for independent living. The concept at Lifespire typically has 11 units in each home with layouts that give residents independence and a sense of connection with nearby neighbors on a more quiet part of a campus.
Later this year, LifeSpire of Virginia will seek additional bond financing to add five hybrid homes to its Lakewood life plan community, along with two additional hybrid independent living homes at The Summit. To date, the organization has pre-sold 92 units in total between Lakewood and The Summit campuses, having reached sales goals in roughly six weeks, Cook said.
“We’re 100% pre-sold at those campuses and we’re continuing to invest in independent living,” Cook said. “This is all about the demand curve, and it’s only going to ramp up. It’s the demand curve that’s driving all of this.”
Cook said it is imperative for LifeSpire of Virginia to prepare for a future in which older adults demand more independence, choice and personalization.
Demand for new independent living is so strong that Cook said current residents at LifeSpire of Virginia campuses are pressuring leadership to build more units. This isn’t a surprise to Cook, who said he believes the best referral source for new residents comes from those already living in a community.
Skokie, Illinois-based Presbyterian Living conducted a market study to determine how the nonprofit organization could keep up with rising senior living demand. The study called for adding a new independent living expansion to The Moorings of Arlington Heights campus. Construction for the 70-unit independent living expansion is underway this year and brings the organization’s total independent living stock to over 880 units, of which 330 will be at Moorings of Arlington Heights once the expansion project is completed.
Over the years, the organization tracked its one-bedroom unit mix, and Presbyterian Living created two-bedroom units that are “more attractive” for today’s senior living customers, according to President and CEO Nadim Abi-Antoun.
“We were fortunate to have available land to place the expansion on without impacting existing residences,” Abi-Antoun said. “Everything pointed in the right direction for independent living.”
Alongside the independent living expansion, Abi-Antoun said another important element of redefining the community came in adapting dining to be “a more casual experience” and preparing more culinary options for older adults. At the same time, Presbyterian Living repositioned common spaces and interiors at its existing community to make sure they meet current standards desired by the next generation of customers.
But adding onto a community with a shiny new expansion is a challenge to navigate, with leadership working to ensure that design standards helped add the expansion project seamlessly into the existing footprint, Abi-Antoun said.
“Our design was very intentional and we wanted to make sure that we were still creating a feeling of one community,” Abi-Antoun added.
For example, that meant changing the entry sequences of the building, while keeping all common spaces within the existing building.
Independent living ‘almost like a separate business’
Grapevine, Texas-based Pegasus Senior Living already had 800 units of independent living across its growing portfolio of communities prior to taking on 10 new independent living communities under management on behalf of Healthpeak Properties (NYSE: DOC) earlier this year.
The dynamics between independent living and higher levels of care make operations “almost like separate businesses,” where assisted living and memory care require clinical expertise and independent living focuses on lifestyle.
“There’s not as many moving parts, but you have to pivot to hospitality and I think we’re working on that,” Pegasus CEO Chris Hollister told SHN.
The reality of today’s senior living environment means operators also face older, more acute older adults moving into independent living. But at the same time, a new generation of senior living customers is emerging with the onset of the baby boomers in the sector.
“We’ve got to update our communities because this is the Woodstock generation coming at us and so everyone is trying to figure out what the baby boomers want.”
Using coffee as a metaphor, Hollister described how older generations wanted Folgers-brand drip coffee, a basic pot left on the burner, much like how they accepted more simple, needs-based senior living. But the boomers, by contrast, expect a cappuccino and not drip coffee. Translated to independent living, that means they want more than safety and basic services.
The incoming generation expects higher-touch hospitality, better design and amenities, stronger wellness programming and enriched social experiences. The core product of senior living, housing and support, remains the same but the experience must evolve to meet higher expectations, Hollister said.
“We’re going from health care-adjacent independent living to something where it’s like an airbag. You have the protection but you don’t see it all the time, and you have services that are going to keep you well,” Hollister said.