Tag Archive for: mob

Medical Office Buildings Remain in Demand Among Investors

There continues to be very strong investor appetite for medical office buildings (MOBs), according to several industry sources.

Roughly $4.7 billion’s worth of medical office buildings traded in the first half of 2019, according to Mike Hargrave, principal at Revista, a medical research real estate firm. While investment volume in the sector is off its recent highs of 2017 and 2018, that’s been due to fewer portfolios coming on the market recently, says Hargrave. Investment sales volume in the MOB sector reached $6.5 billion in the first half of 2018 and $12.4 billion for the whole year, according to Revista data.

Investment sales activity for the second quarter of 2019 totaled $3.0 billion, Revista reports. A large portion of this total came from Welltower’s $1.25 billion purchase of 55 medical office buildings from CNL Healthcare in June.

“It remains to be seen if 2019 will rival the past two years [in] total transaction volume. If it falls short, it will be due to not as many large portfolio transactions, which could have been impacted by higher interest rates during the earlier part of the year,” says Matt Withey, managing director of acquisitions at Virtus Real Estate Capital, a private equity real estate firm. “But appetite remains very strong, especially for high quality medical office buildings. Investors remain drawn to the durability of the cash flow stream, especially those who think we are in the later stage of the current economic cycle.”

Pricing remains tight for medical office building, with cap rates averaging 6.6 percent in the second quarter of 2019. Earlier in the cycle, cap rates for medical office buildings were much closer to those for suburban office buildings, according to a report from research firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA).

According to Revista, cap rates on MOB properties have averaged at 6.4 percent over the past 12 months. But they can range from the low 4.0 percent to high 7.0 percent, with the “low end representing larger core medical office buildings in well-located markets” and the “higher end representing value-add plays,” says Hargrave. Withey says many medical office buildings trade at cap rates of between 5.5 percent to 7.0 percent.

“There’s still a lot of transaction activity. If there was a huge gap with buyers holding firm and not selling anything and bidders wanting a discount, you would see a sharp drop in deal activity and cap rates flat” says Jim Costello, senior vice president with RCA. “But we’ve got elevated cap rates and single asset sales, so the bedrock of the market is still doing great and growing.”

Medical office building completions in the U.S. average roughly 20 million sq. ft. annually. New construction in the space has gone through ups and downs since 2017, largely due to factors such as HVCRE regulations, high construction costs and labor shortages. For this reason, MOBs are “not facing an oversupply problem like a lot of other sectors.” according to Withey.

“The services delivered within medical office buildings [are] growing faster than the space [they are] delivered in. Additionally, increases in technology [are] allowing more and more procedures that were traditionally delivered within an in-patient setting to be delivered in an outpatient setting,” says Hargrave. “So, demand for new state-of-the-art space is consistently increasing within the medical office building sector.”

Most healthcare REITs, including Welltower, Ventas, HCP, as well as REITs focused specifically on medical office buildings, such as Physicians Realty Trust, Healthcare Trust of America, and HR, continue to have an appetite for buying medical office buildings, says Hargrave. Additionally, several large institutional investors, including Harrison Street Realty Capital, MB Real Estate and LaSalle, have a focus on the sector.

Despite some unpredictability in large portfolio activity in the MOB sector, Withey says “private and institutional investment has been consistent and growing.”

 

Source: NREI

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The Outlook For Outpatient Could Mean Outrageous Returns

 

The hospital’s monopoly on healthcare is coming to an end. These large institutions aren’t going anywhere, of course, but every year, more and more people receive treatment in medical office buildings (MOBs), retail centers and other off-campus facilities. And real estate investors have taken notice.

The drivers for this shift to off-campus healthcare are numerous. Mergers among health providers have changed how physicians interact with patients, as have emerging technologies that make it easier and cheaper to decentralize medicine.

But the biggest stimulus is access. For all its complexity, healthcare is still a consumer-facing business, and the consumers want convenience. This is why medical providers seek to place offices in neighborhoods and suburban areas, closer to where people live and where they work.

“What our hospital CEOs are telling us is that there is a general move away from inpatient toward outpatient care, not just for financial reasons, but also for the convenience of the patient,” said John Abuja, senior director at Marcus & Millichap.

New, single-tenant MOBs remain attractive to both private and institutional buyers, according to a recent Marcus & Millichap report. If a property has the backing of major medical providers or hospital systems, leases trade at a premium, with first-year returns in the high-5 to low-6 percent range on average.

Developing a medical office asset off-campus can lead to higher rents as the high-quality submarkets where service providers want to set up shop have higher underlying base rents in general. Also, there is a trend toward more opulent build-outs that the end users seem to desire.

“The rise in rent can in part be attributed to the additional cost and sophistication and demand now for higher levels of service and patient comfort,” said Abuja. “Some of these facilities have wider hallways, larger exam rooms and really they have Class A finishes. Ironically, a lot of that is being driven now by the patient, more so than even the physician.”

Though MOBs are attractive to investors and are therefore under development at a rapid pace, there are opportunities in retail locations as well. The types of medical uses that a community shopping center or even a power center can support create some limitations, but there are prospects for suitable location/use matchups.

“Retail locations are going to find it very difficult to attract certain healthcare tenants because of the need for backup generators or surgical suite amenities,” Abuja said. “That said, there are a lot of non-invasive, MRI imaging and other tenants that are a great fit for a storefront location.”

However, locating a medical use in a retail environment will put the property into competition with other asset classes. The premier locations where they want to be are also where everyone else wants to be—a situation that can lead to higher development costs.

“If a developer is building into a retail center where they are in competition with other retail rents, then the cost of being there is higher because they’re competing with other retail tenants for the same location,” Abuja said. “Some of the retail rents, especially restaurants, far exceed what you typically pay on an office space.”

According to Abuja, while a $65 per square foot buildout cost years ago was relatively standard, now it could be upwards of $150 per square foot to redevelop a retail location for a medical office use. However, if and when the fit is right, getting closer to the end user can justify these additional costs.

Erected in the mid-1970s and with a gross leasable area of more than 164,000 square feet, The Oak Mill Mall in Niles, Illinois was always a hybrid. It’s anchored by a Jewel-Osco grocery store and has the look of a large strip mall from the outside, though it actually has everything that a ‘70s-era mall would have: two levels, storefronts within an enclosed space and even an indoor water fountain.

As retail tenants began to move out, however, the property rebranded as “Oak Mill Plaza” and began targeting healthcare providers. Now, approximately half of the retail tenants are medical purveyors of one stripe or another, including pediatrics, oncology, dentistry and a travel clinic.

This location is a deviation from the norm, however. Most retail centers max out at one or two healthcare tenants, typically in an outlot location. And for the financial backers, the real money is in MOBs.

There are strong consumer forces pulling medical office properties away from institutional campuses and out to Main Street. However, there are strong forces keeping MOBs in orbit around a hospital as well.

“There is comfort to investors knowing that they are on or near a hospital campus where supply characteristics are insured. If I had to make a choice between an on-campus or an off-campus building, I would still rather be on campus or tangent to campus just because the doctors are already there,” Abuja said. “It’s not ‘build it and they will come.’ They’re already there. That’s why most investors, if they could choose, would still rather be on campus or near campus with an MOB.”

According to the Marcus & Millichap report, many physicians are bringing buildings to market in order to cash in on increased equity; properties tenanted by a private physician typically trade 100 basis points above those leased by major medical groups.

Sale-leaseback opportunities with private physician groups often require personal guarantees of leases, so investors should be mindful of lease terms as many buyers prefer to have major hospital system or healthcare group backing as they lead to longer lease guarantees.

As investors seek stabilized, multi-tenant medical office properties in primary and secondary markets, the yield spreads between on-campus and off-campus assets have compressed. In today’s market, private investors and institutions alike expect similar returns regardless of an assets’ proximity to an established hospital.

 

Source:  RE Journals

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Hospital Views On Medical Office Buildings

Hospitals often view their medical office building (MOB) investments differently than doctors that own their medical facilities. Doctors can build equity owning MOB’s during their career, with an expectation to cash out equity near retirement by either selling to a practice partner based on a market appraisal, or by structuring a Sale/Leaseback transaction with an investor to create a higher net present value of the MOB asset.

Hospitals typically have more complex issues to assess. Most have an investment portfolio consisting primarily of equities. Some hospitals consider MOB’s to be part of their investment portfolio. Other health care systems do not, and view their MOBs strictly from an accounting standpoint as an operating asset. A hospital system typically owns buildings they occupy with other owned MOBs rented to doctors and other health care providers.

Owner-Occupied MOBs

Hospital-occupied medical office buildings are good candidates for sale/leaseback transactions to monetize value in cases where the hospital has limited access to capital for property improvements, expansion or to free up cash to fund operations. However, it is not always necessary for health care providers to monetize owner/occupied MOB’s if they have strong credit with good access to capital at reasonable rates.

Tenant-Occupied MOBs

Hospital-owned, tenant occupied MOB’s have recently become a higher priority to sell for several reasons. MOBs are investments that tie up hospital capital that could more effectively be utilized on more strategic investments. Vacant MOB spaces provide zero-to-negative returns on this capital. Due to soft office market conditions across the US, many hospitals have increased vacancies with the opportunity cost of this capital tied up in their MOBs.

The estimated value of MOB holdings is added to the health care provider’s investment portfolio which hospitals use to analyze “MOB holdings percentage” of total investment. When the ratio of “MOB Holdings” as a percentage of total portfolio assets increases, portfolio risk also increases from an investment perspective due to the lack of geographic and industry diversification inherent in MOBs. This is especially true if patient volumes decrease as is the case currently in many markets. There are significant concerns today when effects of our uncertain economic conditions combine with uncertainty posed by health care reform. Special attention to safe diversification of the hospital’s overall investment portfolio is warranted.

Sale/leaseback of select hospital occupied buildings and/or straight sales of tenant occupied buildings can provide that asset diversification and improve the cash positions at a time when cash can be utilized to take advantage of more strategic opportunities.

An example of this strategy can be seen in the transaction where Carle Foundation Hospital sold its 92,000 sf MOB in Bloomington, IL for $24.25 million or $264 per square foot at an 8.5% cap rate, according to Robert Tonkinson, former CFO of the Carle Foundation based in Urbana, Illinois.

New Statutes: Stark Law

Two new statutes recently enacted by Congress will bring greater governmental scrutiny and action. Enforcement of these rules will cause headaches for hospitals and will likely motivate many to consider exiting commercial real estate or forming strategic partnerships with MOB real estate specialists. The “ 2009 Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act” (FERA) and the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (PPACA) will have an impact on a hospital’s decision to self-disclose Stark Law violations related to hospital-physician leasing arrangements.

The impact of these rules on MOBs could be significant and cause many health care firms to sell their MOBs to third parties, if only to avoid the potential risks. Hospitals that wish to retain their MOB interests may consider outsourcing MOB management to commercial MOB specialists as an added layer of insulation from Stark Law liability. The most transparent and savvy way out of this newly heightened government scrutiny, however, may be to monetize MOB’s with sales or sale/master leasebacks. This avoids the inherent potential conflict posed by a doctor that refers patients to a hospital, and later asks the same hospital for six months free rent to sign a new lease. In this situation, the negotiation is driven by Federal Health Care Regulations with heavy fines awarded to hospitals that don’t live within these strict rules that are designed to protect patients by elimination of waste, fraud and unfairness within the federal healthcare reimbursement system. When a doctor asks a private investor MOB owner for six months free rent to sign that same new lease next to the hospital, it becomes a simple business decision driven by market forces, without the negative baggage of perceived conflicts of provider-owned MOBs.

MOB Values Up

The Deaconess Clinic of Evansville, Indiana sold five MOB’s totaling 260,500 sf for $45.26 million or $174 psf at an 8.25% cap rate in March 2010 using a 14-year term master lease back. According to Real Capital Analytics, the average annual sale price for MOB sales in major cities across the country of $5 million and up, has risensteadily from$140 psfin 2002 … to $218 psf at the top of the overheated market in 2006 … to $226 psf by the end of the second quarter of 2010.

This is not a misprint. We are actually getting higher prices today for large MOBs in major cities than we did at the peak of the real estate cycle just a few years ago. So what’s the catch? Unlike other segments of commercial real estate that have seen falling values, there is exceptional demand today supporting stronger-than-ever values for large MOB’s with strong-credit tenants on long term leases in major US markets.

But what about smaller MOB deals in smaller markets? I personally brokered the sale of 53 MOBs with an average sale price of $1,031,000 per transaction, located in tertiary markets in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Illinois from 2002 through the second quarter of 2010. I created the nearby bar charts to compare annual MOB big sales (i.e. $5+ million) in big markets (reported by Real Capital Analytics) to my smaller MOB sales (i.e. $1 million) in small markets over the past nine years. From 2002 through 2005, there was an average MOB price difference of only $20 psf between the big deals/big markets and the small deals/small markets.

Over that 2002-2005 period, cap rates for large transactions averaged only 0.6% lower than the small deal/small market prices. But the gap started to widen from 2006 thru 2008, when the big MOB deals averaged $30 psf higher and the cap rates for big deals compressed to average 1.5% lower than the cap rates for the small deals.

There was a striking difference from 2009 through Q2-2010 as big deals in big markets pulled away and averaged $80 psf higher than the small deals in small markets, with the cap rate differential moderating to only 1.1 percent. This condition over the last two years reveals an interesting trend. The more sophisticated investors (like hospital systems) that own big MOB’s in big cities realized that in addition to the other good reasons to sell mentioned previously, the top of market to sell for highest price is actually now, so they are selling.

Doctors predominately own smaller MOBs in smaller markets and are somewhat isolated from the realities of the current favorable market condition for MOBs. They have tended to remain on the sidelines during these last two years believing their MOB values are down like the rest of the real estate market, when in fact the opposite is true.

The majority of small MOB sales over the last two years were mostly distressed, vacant properties that sold at very low prices, creating the disparity of $80 psf between large ($5+ million) and small ($1 million) recorded MOB transactions. This should change, however, in 2011as the gap between large and small MOB deals narrows when doctors in smaller markets realize MOBs have escaped the declines of other segments and that now is one of the best times ever to sell medical office space at strong valuations.

Source: South Florida Hospital News

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What’s The Outlook For Medical Office Buildings?

Medical real estate (MOB) is a sector undergoing some changes, but its future outlook remains stable. As healthcare providers continue to grapple with changes in reimbursement policies, investors are increasingly viewing these assets as more than just alternatives to core real estate sectors, says Lisa Strope, director of research at real estate services firm JLL. “It’s a really good time for healthcare investment,” Strope says. Here are some key updates on the sector from several industry experts.

1. There is a lot of development. And it’s happening across the country, says Mike Hargrave, principal at Revista, a medical real estate research firm. According to Revista’s construction report, the U.S. can expect to see about 22 million sq. ft. of medial office space delivered this year. “That would be really the high-water mark going all the way back to 2008,” Hargrave says.

2. But development is not outpacing demand. This new construction represents just 1.5 percent of existing stock, according to Revista figures. “It’s not like that inventory’s growing at a pace that demand can’t keep up with,” Hargrave says. In addition, very little of this pipeline is made up of speculative construction. Demand for medical office building and outpatient care centers continues to grow rapidly, and supply is keeping pace, says Mindy Berman, managing director at JLL, as technological advancements have allowed more critical medical care to be provided in retail settings and not just hospitals.

3. Construction trends differ geographically. In states including Missouri, Colorado and Texas, new development can happen quicker, whereas in more regulated states, you may see hospitals leasing space in a retail strip, Hargrave says. In some states where there is more land available—like Texas, for example—there is the growing trend of micro-hospitals and freestanding emergency rooms popping up, he notes. “The common thread is the hospitals are in a mad dash to protect market share, to grow market share and to deliver healthcare to the community,” Hargrave says.

4. The “retailization” of medical real estate has been driven by demographics and technology. According to a recent report on the sector from real estate services firm Avison Young, there are around 1,500 to 2,000 mobile clinics around the country, more than 2,000 retail clinics and about 5,600 ambulatory surgical centers. “The concept is that care providers are meeting their patients where they are. With medical offices located in prime retail locations, patients can access care in a convenient spot while running other errands,” Berman says. And the shift from retail to healthcare use is easier than one might think; such facilities tend to have high visibility, easy access and a large floor space, Strope adds. This ongoing “mutation of uses” of medical office space has resulted in part because of the aging of the baby boomer and millennial generations, the latter of which tends to go to the doctor for check-ups and preventative care less, says report author Tula Voutieros, senior research analyst at Avison Young. “You’re really seeing much more flexible open design in spaces, gearing the industry for preparedness of change along with the healthcare industry,” Voutieros says. Meanwhile, technological advances and changes in healthcare reimbursements have also helped to shift services more to out-patient locations—all to help keep healthcare costs down, Berman says. According to JLL’s health care real estate outlook for 2018, 39 percent of the market value for U.S. healthcare real estate is concentrated in outpatient facilities and MOBs; 31 percent is concentrated in hospitals.

5. The sector’s fundamentals are stable. “Operationally speaking, there’s nothing in the fundamentals that suggests that the sector should be heading to a downturn,” Hargrave says. MOBs have posted stable occupancy rates, a trend anticipated to continue. Jll’s report notes a quarterly weighted average occupancy rate between 90.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009 and 92.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, “a mere 200-basis-point spread from recent peak to trough.” Meanwhile, pricing has slowly risen, up an average of 49.8 percent over the past five years.

6. There’s been a shift in who’s buying. Healthcare REITs used to be the dominant force in buying institutional grade class-A medical assets, as they had the lowest cost to capital and the ability to place the highest bids, Hargrave says. “That changed coming into 2018, and really whether it’s the big three REITs or whether it’s the MOB-focused REITs, their cost to capital has gone up,” says Hargrave. This has led a number of institutional-grade private equity firms to view class-A MOB assets as core real estate. “REITs are a little bit less active now than they were a year ago,” Hargrave says. According to JLL’s research, medical office assets have regularly posted a 200-basis-point spread in cap rate over the past five years; yields are anticipated to come in at 6.7 percent this year for MOBs.

Source: NREI
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Medical Office Buildings: Picture Of Health

Medical office buildings have long been considered a niche sector, but surging interest among investors and developers is rapidly bringing the asset category into the commercial real estate mainstream. The aging U.S. population—combined with the sector’s long-term, stable returns and resistance to e-commerce—is providing steady tailwinds for MOB demand.

“Medical office buildings are the hottest asset class outside of multifamily,” asserted Louis Rogers, founder & CEO of Capital Square 1031, a Glen Allen, Va.-based real estate investment and management company. “Investors intuitively understand that medical needs increase as we age.”

To Rogers’ point, the 65-and-older segment of the population is expected to increase by 1.7 million in 2018 and by 9.2 million over the next five years, according to CBRE’s 2018 U.S. Real Estate Market Outlook for Medical Office. That is driving short-term and long-term demand for medical services, particularly in markets with high concentrations of older residents (many of them in the Northeast and Midwest) or those with populations that are growing quickly overall as well as skewing older (characteristic of many southern and western metros). That demand should continue, notwithstanding changes to the Affordable Care Act that have created some uncertainty in the healthcare market, CBRE predicts.
In a sign that institutional investors are ramping up interest in the sector, an affiliate of Heitman LLC announced in February that it had acquired a 1.4 million-square-foot, 17-property MOB portfolio. Texas accounts for seven properties and five are in Indiana, with one apiece in New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Illinois and Missouri.
In its deal announcement, Heitman cited the properties’ recent vintage—most date from after 2005—their affiliations with top health systems, and their locations in high-growth markets. Among the assets is the Medical Arts Pavilion in Plainsboro, N.J., which opened in 2012 as part of a new medical campus developed for the Princeton HealthCare System. In January 2018, the MOB became part of Penn Medicine Princeton Health, formed by the merger of the two university healthcare systems.

CURE FOR CONCERNS

As the real estate industry enters the ninth year of the current cycle, Rogers noted, the need-based, recession-resistant qualities of medical care offer a safe haven for investors, when prospects for other asset categories may be less certain.
In addition, a shift away from hospital campus-based services, adoption of new technology, health-care job growth and tight market conditions are all boosting demand, explained Andrea Cross, CBRE’s head of office research for the Americas. Since 2000, healthcare employment has jumped 47 percent, compared to 12 percent for employment overall. And it’s projected to grow further, adding nearly 1 million jobs over the next five years, CBRE reported.
Lease terms for MOBs are also typically attractive to investors, as tenants tend to be financially stable customers like physicians or healthcare systems with investment-grade credit. MOB tenants also tend to invest significant amounts of capital in equipment and fixtures, and as a result they are unlikely to relocate merely because a building down the street will save them a few dollars per square foot.

STRONG VITALS

The MOB sector’s healthy fundamentals have also expanded the pool of interested investors. The property type registered a lower peak vacancy rate than traditional office properties during the 2008 recession, according to CBRE. Net absorption has outpaced new supply in 24 of the past 29 quarters, and gross asking rents have been stable, reflecting consistent user demand and long-term leases that reduce tenant turnover.
Medical-office cap rates declined to 6.4 percent in 2017 from 8.3 percent in 2010, according to Stephen Newbold, national director of U.S. office research for Colliers International, while sales volume increased over the same stretch to $11.3 billion from $4.3 billion. The top five markets for sales volume last year were Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and Chicago.
On the development front, Colliers reports that 16.2 million square feet of medical office space was completed in 2017 and forecasts a modest increase to 20.5 million square feet in 2018. States with the largest pipelines include California (5.4 million square feet), Texas (3.1 million), Florida (2.6 million), New York (4.8 million) and Pennsylvania (1.9 million)—all large states with a substantial older population.
The stable, resilient performance of MOBs is attracting lenders, as well. “The market for acquiring existing properties is very strong, and there is a tremendous amount of capital for stable assets,” said Charles Foschini, a senior managing director at Berkadia. One challenge is the three-year-old High Volatility Commercial Real Estate regulations, which stipulate minimum equity and a maximum loan-to-value ratio in order for lenders to meet a 150 percent risk weight requirement. “The HVCRE rules have made it difficult for all but the strongest developers to get financing,” Foschini observed, noting that pre-commitments from tenants may make it easier for developers to secure funding.
In March 2017, Berkadia lined up a $22.5 million bridge loan to reposition 625 Flagler, a 110,000-square-foot Class A property formerly occupied by Bank of America in West Palm Beach, Fla. FRI Investors, the new owner, plans to reposition the 34-year-old building primarily as medical offices; current tenants include Mount Sinai Hospital and Jupiter Medical Center.

DISSECTING THE DETAILS

As MOBs gain in popularity, discerning investors cite qualities of tenants and properties that make these assets attractive. “If you have a strong healthcare system, Class A MOBs, whether on or off campus, remain especially compelling,” said Mary Beth Kuzmanovich, national director of healthcare services for Colliers International.
Assets located on or near hospital campuses provide stability because they are convenient for both physicians and patients, and doctors are usually affiliated with the healthcare system, providing an incentive for them to sign long-term leases. As medical services move closer to patients, particularly in suburbs, patients no longer have to go to a hospital for procedures like outpatient surgery, radiation therapy or dialysis. Accordingly, assets in suburban MOBs are becoming more desirable.
Location isn’t the only factor, however. “The investor class has to be very careful to understand who’s in their building and their long-term financial viability to continue to be able to pay their rent and continue to renew and stay in the building,” Kuzmanovich said.
American Healthcare Investors and Griffin Capital Co., the co-sponsors of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV, focus more on the tenant than on the asset’s location, said Danny Prosky, a founding principal of American Healthcare Investors. “Healthcare is a growth industry in all 50 states,” he said. “There isn’t any one particular part of the country that we avoid.”
In October 2017, Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV acquired Fairfield County Medical Office Building Portfolio, comprising two MOBs located in Connecticut. The 80,000-square-foot portfolio is 94.6 percent leased to 15 tenants with an average remaining lease term of more than seven years. The portfolio’s anchor tenants, affiliates of Advanced Radiology Consultants, occupy about 29 percent of the leasable space, and recently extended their leases to 2029.
Source: CPE
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