For those involved in the buying and selling of medical office buildings, you feel it. Transaction volumes have been steadily rising for the past few years. Revista began tracking property transactions in 2014 and volumes in that year were $8.9B for MOBs. By all accounts, 2014 was a record for transaction activity for the MOB sector at that time. Well volumes have only continued to increase each year since 2014. In fact, a preliminary $13.6B in MOBs traded in 2017 which is up 13% from 2016. During this time, we have seen increased institutional investment in the space and we have seen the MOB focused REITS become a recognized investor type. This all argues that the sector is slowly but surely becoming a core asset class. Yes, investment volumes are not quite what we see in the office sector but at over 3% they are respectable and on par with several other property sectors.
Annual MOB Transaction Volume (source: Revistamed.com)
