Industry Pulse: Healthcare REITs attracting attention

Acquisitions like Water Tower Medical Commons in Milwaukee have put Duke Realty and other healthcare REITs on the map. (Photo courtesy of Seavest Healthcare Properties)

Ventas isn’t the only healthcare REIT in the spotlight recently.

We noticed that several other denizens of the healthcare sector have been featured in recent editions of REIT: Real Estate Investment Today, the magazine of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts Inc. (NAREIT).

The cover story in the January/February edition was “Duke’s Transformative Decade,” about the rapid expansion into healthcare real estate by Duke Realty Corp. (NYSE: DRE). “What we have tried to do is change the face of the company from a property point of view in order to position ourselves for growth over the next 10 to 15 years, but to keep the people and core operating principles in place,” Chairman & CEO Dennis B. Oklak told REIT magazine.

In that same edition, a panel of REIT experts also commented favorably on healthcare REITs in general. The healthcare industry is in the “third inning of nine-inning baseball game” in terms of growth, James Flaherty, chairman and CEO of HCP Inc. (NYSE: HCP) told the magazine. “I wouldn’t trade the fundamental economic driver for any REIT space in the world,” he said. Healthcare spending by aging baby boomers is the key, he said.

And the March/April edition of REIT features a Q&A with George Chapman, CEO and president of Health Care REIT Inc. (NYSE: HCN). In that article, titled “A Prescription for Growth,” Mr. Chapman discussed the evolution of HCN, healthcare real estate market trends and fundamentals, capital raising, mergers and acquisitions (M&As), major issues and opportunities, and how the market has changed during the past 10 years.

To read the REIT magazine articles, visit: http://www.realestateinvestmenttoday.com/.