Healthcare tenants have shown more apprehension to make long-term lease commitments during the pandemic, but many are continuing to push ahead anyway and sign new leases, particularly for those that with upcoming renewals. JLL's Los Angeles healthcare real estate team has signed several lease transactions in the last three months, even as the market continued to change and many in-person doctors' appointments slowed down.

"We are seeing that most healthcare tenants know that they will need their space for the short and the long term," Chris Isola, EVP at JLL, tells GlobeSt.com. "Work from home doesn't really work for medical, as no doctor has an exam room or operating room in her house. Healthcare occupiers typically can only generate revenue in their premises. And despite a significant increase in telehealth, most of healthcare remains a contact sport. Therefore, in the last quarter we have completed a number of transactions and overall our transaction volume is comparable to 2019."

During the pandemic, Isola and his colleagues closed six long-term lease deals for healthcare clients. "Many of these had a critical path towards completion before COVID," explains Isola. "Nevertheless we were successful in avoiding any reduction in term length or change to the negotiated terms due to the pandemic. And, actually two of the renewals doubled in size. Additionally, we represented a major regional healthcare system on two sizeable new leases that were completed over the same period of time."