MOB Cap Rates Drop; Portfolio Sales And Prices Rise, According To New Reports

Nearly everyone involved in medical outpatient building sales seems to be looking for signs that the transactions market is picking up.

They’re hopeful that we might soon see the end of a two-year slump that started with rising interest rates, harder-to-obtain debt for buyers, and a gap between buyer and seller pricing expectations.

Although first-half market reports from two of the larger commercial real estate services firms heavily involved in healthcare real estate might not provide an absolute answer to this question, they do include some interesting data about the sector and, perhaps, where it’s headed.

For example, both of the reports from CBRE Group Inc. and Cushman & Wakefield show that the average capitalization rate, or the expected first-year return, for MOB sales fell in the second quarter for the first time in about two years. As of Q2, the average cap rate for MOB sales was 6.9 percent, according to both reports, after hitting 7 percent in Q1.

Source: HREI