Healthcare isn't one thing but rather a broad set of practices, and the interplay of medical needs and social particulars have a foundational impact on commercial real estate for the industry.

Currently, there is a major demographic shift that is having a big impact. "This year the greatest number of baby boomers will reach 65," Shawn Janus, national director of healthcare, U.S. at Colliers, tells GlobeSt.com. "There's a greater need for healthcare."

It seems like a simple statement, but the implications run wide and deep, and sometimes not exactly the way that would seem obvious. "There's the whole behavioral health continuum," Janus says. "Your incidence of cancer obviously go up — a lot of prostate cancer," for example. "Without question, interestingly I've heard a couple of different theories about orthopedics." One is that older people aren't as active, and so in greater need of bone treatments. But then, "it's [also] a more active lifestyle of seniors," like those playing tennis, golf, or pickleball.