Buying a nursing home
Will this nursing home stay full at fees that cover nursing costs?
Check nursing need against nursing beds in the district, the council's nursing rate plus Funded Nursing Care, occupancy, quality and the home's company record.
When people use it: At first look at a nursing home for sale, and again in due diligence.
How it works, step by step
The home
Open the home's profile: rating and date, beds, registered manager, operator and Companies House checks, and the income estimate explained.
Nursing need against nursing beds
Choose Nursing in the care service bar: is the home's district short of nursing beds now or by 2030?
Competing nursing homes nearby
Enter the home's postcode in Near postcode: every nursing home within 10 miles, nearest first.
What the council pays for nursing
The nursing rate before Funded Nursing Care; the commentary sets each rise against pay.
Margin after purchase
Model the home with its own beds, fees and occupancy; nurse pay is the biggest risk.
The views you will use
Ask the data in plain English
A real question and answer from Ask Orrery, the assistant inside the platform, for a care home owner in Kent (October 2026). It answers only from Orrery's data and the subscriber's own documents, and shows its sources.
Kent nursing home buyer checks (assumed: nursing homes in Kent)
- Occupancy. The 12 month average is 87.9%, against an England median of 87.7% (Capacity Tracker). Check the home's own occupancy against that.
- Beds against need. Kent is projected to have 3,250 spare older people's beds in 2030. Check the home's own district with the Nursing filter, because the county figure hides local gaps. This is a projection on stated assumptions, not a forecast.
- Fees. The council nursing rate is £1,378 a week, against an England median of £1,068 (DHSC MSIF rates). Check that the rate covers nurse pay.
- Self funders. They make up 43% of residents (ONS estimates), so the private fee mix matters.
- Competition and quality. Look at nursing homes within 10 miles. Kent has 79% rated Good or better (CQC care directory), against an England median of 84%.
Open in Orrery: /app/guides/buy-nursing-home?council=kent
This is not investment advice. Take professional advice before buying.
Ask, chart and report, in plain English
Ask Orrery answers from Orrery's data, draws charts on request and builds reports you can save as PDF. These are real examples for Kent.
- Nursing beds are hard to replace, so shortages last, but nurse recruitment is the main operating risk.
- A home rated Requires improvement in a short market can be a turnaround; in a market with spare beds it is a risk.
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