It feels like I am writing an obituary to family-run aged care facilities. Once the backbone of the sector, multi-generation operators are now selling out at a pace not seen before.
The sell-off is accelerating, with three landmark deals in just two weeks:
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Opal HealthCare acquiring Australian Aged Care Group’s three homes (379 beds) in Victoria.
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Estia Health absorbing Vacenti’s six Brisbane homes and a seventh under development.
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Medical and Aged Care Group snapping up the McMahon family’s Cheltenham and Greenwood Manors in Melbourne.
It’s not just a business decision – it’s the end of an era.
Why exit now?
For many, the answer is simple: it’s never been harder to run an aged care business.
“The market is harder and more complex beyond comprehension. Governance demands are extreme, compliance costs high, and one brush with the regulator can wipe out $1 million in revenue and costs,” one sector adviser told The Weekly SOURCE.
Workforce shortages add to the pressure.
“You can have all the systems in the world, but without staff, you can’t deliver care,” the adviser added.
That reality has pushed many families to exit while they still can. Smaller, family-run homes, particularly in regional and remote areas, struggle to meet escalating compliance and workforce demands – even if they’re delivering good care.
What’s being lost – and gained
For communities, the disappearance of family-run homes is significant. These were not just care facilities but local institutions – often major employers, embedded in the community, where staff knew every resident and their family by name.
What replaces them are larger providers with scale: organisations with the systems, capital and resilience to shoulder compliance, attract funding and survive the next round of reform. That brings stability, but is the sector also losing part of its identity?
The bigger question
Ultimately, it comes back to the same question hanging over the sector: is aged care investable? If families with deep roots are stepping away, what message does that send to capital?
Is there a solution?
We have been advocating for Plan T – Transformation – a structural fix to make aged care not just viable and sustainable, but investable.
Until that happens, the exits will continue. And the sector’s future may not just be about who owns aged care – but whether anyone can afford to.
