BOYNTON BEACH, FL-Even though sales of healthcare real estate have tapered off this year from a very strong 2012, demand has seemingly remained strong for high-quality, hospital-affiliated MOBs. A recent acquisition by one of the country's largest healthcare real estate investment trusts supports this notion.

Toledo, OH-based Health Care REIT paid $49.5 million for the 133,000-square foot Bethesda Health City in Boynton Beach, about 50 miles north of Miami. The main tenant in the 98%- occupied medical mall is the two-hospital Boynton Beach-based Bethesda Health System.

Benefitting from the strong healthcare real estate market is the seller, a joint venture partnership of Miami-based Flagler Investment Property Group and Bahrain-based Investcorp Real Estate, which has an office in New York. Just two years ago, in the second half of 2011, the JV paid Bethesda Health $37 million for the facility in an off-market transaction