New Capital Looks at Behavioral Space
Panelists at the recent GlobeSt. Healthcare Real Estate national conference say that while investor interest is growing in behavioral facilities, lenders are slow to follow suit.
SCOTTSDALE, AZ—Even in the midst of a global pandemic, the healthcare sector has received a significant level of investment. Whether it is an existing project or a future project, entering into the right financial structure long-term will be pivotal. Those thoughts are according to panelists during the capital markets panel at the recent GlobeSt. Healthcare Real Estate national conference here in Scottsdale, AZ.
According to Travis Ives, a managing director of Cushman & Wakefield’s healthcare capital markets team, transaction volume has been at record pace. “New capital is flooding into the space, has been plentiful and is driving cap rates down and creating opportunity,” he said. Even before the pandemic, Ives added, medical office space was looked at as one that could weather the storm. “Now you have a combination of what we thought prior to the pandemic and now it has proven to be true. Medical office was resistant to the effects of the pandemic in the first go around so that fear that the property type won’t withstand it again just isn’t there. You are seeing more money come in, values going up and transaction volume is going up too.”
Panelist Jim McMahon, a VP of Capital One, agreed, noting that when the pandemic hit, things slowed down a tiny bit, but it was short-lived. By August of 2020, Capital One was back in full swing. “That is what separates healthcare from other real estate classes that were harder hit.”
Steve Anderson, a managing director at Ally Bank, explained that while the transaction volume never really slowed down much in 2020, one space where he has seen a volume lately has been in the behavioral space.
Ives, too, said that the behavioral space has received more interest than ever before and although the investment community has come around on it, the lender market is lagging. “It will be interesting to see how that plays out,” he said. “It is a space that is going to continue to grow and hopefully the lenders will follow suit.”
For Capital One, McMahon said that the firm certainly has some behavioral facilities in its portfolio. “For us, if they are scale, we will certainly take a look at it. In those portfolios, you get a nice spread of risk but it is a little fragmented on the smaller deals.”
Check back with GlobeSt.com in the next few days for more from this national event.