Insights from the 2024 BOMA MOB & Healthcare Facilities Conference
COHN has been a leader in real estate marketing and healthcare marketing for the last 20 years. Within real estate marketing, we have significant experience in retail real estate, industrial real estate, multifamily real estate, commercial real estate, and hospitality real estate—but, surprisingly, not a ton of medical or healthcare real estate. In other words, we work directly with those in development generally, and directly with healthcare providers, but not much in healthcare real estate marketing.
Enter the BOMA MOB & Healthcare Facilities Conference, the only national conference that brings together investors, developers, operators, brokers, health systems executives and other ancillary businesses to discuss the state of medical office building (MOB), healthcare real estate and life science real estate.
COHN recently attended the 2024 BOMA MOB & Healthcare Facilities Conference set in Orlando, our first time at this event, to better understand the state of the industry.
Here are our top takeaways from the 2024 conference:
1. Fundamentals are strong, but emphasis on asset management
Medical and healthcare is still performing, and the fundamentals are still strong and safe for investment.
But like all real estate sectors, capital markets and debt is hard to come by at the moment, but not impossible. There are currently fewer sales and fewer new builds, but the right deals are still getting done, and investments are still being made by landlords.
One of the major themes of the conference was maximizing throughput and square footage at existing facilities, while both health systems, providers, developers and landlords are waiting patiently for interest rate cuts. As we heard earlier this year in multifamily at the NHMC, there’s considerable “dry powder” just sitting on the sideline waiting to be deployed, and we’re on track for growth in the next 18-24 months.
2. Labor remains an issue, especially in specialization
Representing a number of large clients on the provider side, we’ve been well aware of the labor issue in healthcare for at least a decade. Of course, the nursing shortage was only exacerbated by COVID-19, but we are starting to see efforts to build a nursing pipeline yield dividends. It seems the specialist shortage, however, is the elephant in the room affecting providers’ ability to meet patient demands. This has, in turn, surged the cost of specialized care.
3. Conversions are key (medtail yes, but not so much in office)
While new builds are less common, asset conversions or adaptive reuse is still viable. The process of converting existing non-medical buildings (retail, office, industrial) into healthcare properties isn’t quite as seamless as an office property owner might hope, but opportunities do still exist—particularly on the medtail side. We met brokers in the space who are facilitating reuse projects across the country, turning community and lifestyle retail centers into medically anchored properties.
Whatever you choose to call it—medical office buildings (MOB), medical real estate, healthcare real estate—this is a fascinating asset class for real estate marketers. As an agency that has specialized in both sides of the transaction, COHN finds itself uniquely qualified to partner with those on the development and provider side to help with their brand marketing needs.
Download our capabilities deck or contact someone from the team to learn more about how COHN can help your healthcare marketing needs. Our experience and insights make us uniquely qualified to contribute to your real estate and healthcare success.
