Aging Baby Boomers Will Drive Demand for Healthcare Properties Over Next Decade, Grubb & Ellis Repo...(arkets the dollar volume ofinvestment tr...),Health

Capitalization rates declined from 9.7 percent in 2002 to 7.0 percent in 2007, indicating that investors have been willing to pay more per dollar of net operating income generated in the first year of ownership. This has been due to the favorable outlook for medical office properties as well as very aggressive credit markets prior to August and to a surplus of equity allocated to real estate investments.

However, cap rates are expected to increase and investment transactions decrease in the short term because lenders and investors have become more risk-averse since the deterioration of the credit markets. This is true not only for all types of commercial real estate investment, but for investment and credit markets across the broad spectrum of economic sectors in all corners of the globe, the Grubb & Ellis report said.

Nevertheless, medical office buildings and other healthcare properties are expected to weather soft economic conditions better than other property types due to the recession-resistant, non-cyclical nature of demand for healthcare services among U.S. consumers.

"The looming economic slowdown is likely to make the healthcare property sector, with its non-cyclical growth profile; look relatively more attractive compared to other property sectors, all of which will be affected to differing degrees by the flattening economy," Bach said. The full report can be found in the research section of the Grubb & Ellis Website, http://www.grubb-ellis.com.

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