Before the pandemic, there was the perception that healthcare was recession-proof and that demand for medical space will rise no matter what happened to the rest of the economy. COVID-19 upended that assumption, but a new report from Cushman & Wakefield makes the case that this commercial real estate sector will be resilient in the long run, fueled by the same demographic factors that existed before the novel coronavirus rolled through the US.

"According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, between 2020 and 2027, healthcare spending is projected to increase by $1.9 trillion in the US alone," the report says.

Like every other segment of the economy, healthcare crashed in the Spring. Consumer spending on healthcare dropped at a -54% annual rate, causing a sharp decline in healthcare providers' revenue. That caused a nearly 10% decline in employment, which was a record for the sector, according to C&W.