The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the country’s healthcare systems as well as the healthcare real estate (HRE) sector, even though the industry and property type continue to show resiliency.

Phoenix is an investor favorite for sure. While nationwide roughly 65% of medical office space is user owned, in Phoenix only 30% is user owned. A significant driver of this is how incredibly fast Phoenix is growing.

While the total MOB sales volume for Q2 has yet to be finalized, it is likely to show a significant decrease from previous quarters due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the drivers of the slowdown in activity is the volume of mortgage financing. Revista tracks recorded mortgage financing for the almost 50,000 medical office buildings in its database.

A weekly running sum of medical office volume through April 2020 reveals that volume is slowing but that overall, total volume is still running ahead of 2019.

It looks as if the first quarter (1Q) might’ve been the calm before the storm when it comes to MOB sales.

In 2020, things are certainly changing a mile a minute. But let's take a look back to 2019 and the investors who most actively acquired MOBs. Welltower takes the title acquiring $2.2 billion throughout the year, followed by MB Real Estate, Montecito and Anchor Health Properties.

Based on planned projects, a slow down in starts in the beginning of this year was expected. But for those scheduled starts, even into March and April, projects moved forward with few exceptions. Projects scheduled to open, however, have a different story.

verall, the report shows little impact from the Covid-19 pandemic. The chart below shows key aggregate same-store year over year growth rates for key MOB metrics.