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Three Health Care Investment Trends For 2022

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The healthcare sector was one of the beneficiaries of the pandemic, and the industry is rapidly growing.

As investors plan for 2022, Meridian CEO John Pollock is predicting three trends will drive activity healthcare real estate.

1. More Outpatient Facilities

The transition to outpatient facilities has been an ongoing trend over the last decade, and it accelerated during the pandemic.

“Services are migrating away from the acute care centers to more convenient outpatient centers” Pollock tells GlobeSt.com. “Ambulatory outpatient care facilities have been at the center of Meridian’s focus for years and we expect this trend to continue to accelerate and translate into more opportunities for investors, developers, and providers alike.”

2. Telehealth Gaining Momentum

Telehealth is the second major trend that Pollock sees gaining momentum this year.

“Everyone has read about the rapid adoption of telehealth during the pandemic. It certainly spiked in 2020, and while it has since leveled off, it is still an integral and effective means to deliver care,” Pollack says. “The physical manifestation of that trend is creating more flexible exam and telehealth rooms.”

The telehealth trend supports better patient care, especially as providers rush to build outpatient ambulatory facilities.

“We have seen an increasing need for outpatient ambulatory care centers either de novo or through renovations that require heavy lifting to meet the new care delivery models,” says Pollock. “A huge benefit of telehealth is providing greater access to care. During the pandemic, it provided a vital access point to care when physical appointments were not practical. Telehealth also allows patients in rural settings to have access to a specialist from the urban centers.”

3. A Focus On Behavioral Health

Finally, health care providers will increase focus on behavioral health.

“We are seeing numerous requirements,” says Pollock. “The stress, isolation and loss caused by the pandemic was the final straw and it is now widely known that behavioral health conditions impact one in four Americans.”

It isn’t only cultural changes that are driving activity in the behavioral space, but institutional investors are also backing these projects.

“Institutional investors have warmed up to having behavioral health tenants in their buildings and portfolios, and we have even seen cap rates move toward traditional medical office building valuations,” says Pollock. “It’s very exciting to be a part of creating more access to these much-needed services in our communities.”

 

Source: BenefitsPRO

Suburban Medical Office Pricing Is At A Premium

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As investors moved toward real estate sectors with better growth opportunities, they turned towards the medical office sector.

Now pricing is at a premium relative to suburban offices, according to an analysis by Real Capital Analytics.

From Q1 2016 to Q1 2021, medical office cap rates averaged 20 basis points (bps) lower than suburban offices. However, in Q1 2021, that spread increased 25 bps, as medical office properties had a 6.5% cap rate across the US.

Suburban office and medical office haven’t always diverged. For example, from 2002 to 2015, there was no discernable spread between cap rates for suburban offices and medical office buildings, according to RCA.

Not surprisingly, prices for medical offices have also held up better than suburban offices through the pandemic. While RCA CPPI for suburban offices declined at a 0.7% year-over-year pace into Q3 2020, it posted a 2.7% pace of growth into Q1 2021.

For medical offices, the volatility wasn’t as great. The RCA CPPI for medical offices hit a low of 2.5% annual growth into Q3 2020 but stood at a 2.8% pace by Q1 2021.

“The investors have been more optimistic about the medical office sector, understanding that an aging population requires more medical intervention,” according to RCA’s Jim Costello.

Medical office deal volume was also more robust through the pandemic. In Q1 2020, medical office deal volume fell only 41% year-over-year. By comparison, suburban offices suffered a 64% decline.

While suburban office may not fare as well against medical office, it has outperformed urban office. Its growth accelerated to a 3.6% annual pace in March, while urban assets declined by 2.4% year-over-year, reflecting a continuing trend of suburban outperformance in the sector, according to a separate analysis from Real Capital Analytics.

 

Source: GlobeSt