NEW YORK CITY-Ten years ago, Ventas Inc. CEO Debra A. Cafaro waged a campaign to get healthcare REITs recognition in the commercial marketplace. But now, Ventas is a $22-billion enterprise and the largest owner of senior housing in the US—and Cafaro predicts healthcare real estate to grow exponentially. “Driven by the aging of our population and the coming changes in our healthcare delivery system, I believe that healthcare real estate is just now starting to rev up,” Cafaro said at the 16th Annual REIT Symposium sponsored by NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate Thursday morning, serving as the conference’s keynote speaker.

Cafaro says healthcare arena—a $1-trillion real estate market with 90% of assets still in private hands—will skyrocket due to the fact that 79 million Baby Boomers will turn 65 years old starting this year. The federal government healthcare overhaul will also bring an additional two million people requiring care into the national healthcare system, signaling a demand for medical offices and outpatient facilities. “Because they are need-based, healthcare and senior housing assets performed the best of any real estate asset class during the recession,” she explained.

Additionally, the population segment at 85-years-old and above is growing at three times the rate of the general population, now totaling six million individuals, she says, providing investors an opportunity to invest in long-term care facilities, senior housing and nursing homes. At the same time, construction on these projects remains constrained. “The pipeline for private pay on senior housing construction was down fully by two-thirds over the past two years,” she says. Coupled with increasing demand, limited supply is driving companies—like Ventas—to fill the void by acquiring new properties.