As the country’s health systems look to grow their ambulatory networks – which one well-known healthcare consulting firm says they must do in order to survive in today’s environment – the main property that can help them do so remains the tried-and-true medical office building (MOB).

2017 witnessed record MOB sales and outsized portfolio sales, but a notable shift occurred in the hot money – a theme that dominates the landscape in early 2018.

Revista is pleased to announce the addition of three new executives, Randal Brand, Dan Eppley and Andrew Haslam, to its distinguished Advisory Board. Randal Brand has for the past nine years been the Director of Facilities and Support Services for Seattle, Wash.-based The Polyclinic, an independently owned physician multi-specialty medical group with over 240 physicians and providers in 500,000 square foot of space in 12 locations. One of Mr. Brand’s major milestones was project management for the aggressive 18-month development of The Polyclinic’s flagship $55 million, 205,000 square foot location at Madison Center. Dan Eppley, a Senior Vice President at Capital One Healthcare, joins his Capital One colleague Erik Tellefson on the Revista Advisory Board. Mr. Eppley is a tenured healthcare finance and real estate professional with more than 20 years of experience. He joined GE Healthcare Financial Services in 2006 and held various leadership positions with its real estate group until Capital One acquired the business in 2015. Mr. Eppley currently leads the underwriting of real estate transactions for medical office, seniors housing and skilled nursing. Andrew Haslam, Chief Asset Officer, Real Estate and Construction, Providence St. Joseph Health, also has joined the Revista Advisory Board. He has experience in various healthcare settings, including critical access hospitals, corporate services, health insurance and real estate. Mr. Haslam currently has oversight of more than five regions of real estate professionals, and the Providence Health & Services portfolio of over 22 million square feet, 3,000 leases and more than 900 buildings with annual lease responsibilities of nearly $200 million. Revista relies on the industry knowledge and experience of each of its advisory board members to help drive the growth and future products it will provide to the medical real estate industry.

2017 will have broken many records in terms of sales transaction activity in healthcare real estate, but it won’t in terms of new construction. Revista data is showing 3 consecutive years with a decrease in starts which is now also affecting total deliveries. Only 16.3M square feet was delivered in 2017, 15% less than the previous year's total of 19.3M.

While there is some concern and uncertainty about what the next year holds for the country’s healthcare system, some of the top professionals involved in healthcare real estate are quite bullish about their business prospects for 2018.

The table below shows the median price per square foot (PPSF) for medical office buildings (MOBs) that have a surgery center and do not have a surgery center and the resulting premium.

Doctor visits will increase 217.6% faster than the population in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties. That’s according to an analysis prepared for the California Hospital, Outpatient Facilities & Medical Office Building Summit in Downtown Los Angeles on December 13.

Is the speculative MOB market overheating once again? Data from Annapolis, Md.-based research firm Revista indicates that it could be, as the amount of speculative MOB space, or space not affiliated with health systems, has reached a four-year high point when compared to health system-affiliated space.

n 2013, the Healthcare REITs within the 2016 top owners report had funded roughly $0.5B worth of construction projects that were considered “in progress” at 12/31/2016. That $0.5B represented just 0.7% of their total gross real estate assets.