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Seattle & Northwest  + Healthcare  | 

COVID Accelerates Investor Demand for Life Science Assets

The pandemic accelerated both tenant and institutional investor demand for life science real estate last year, from wet lab and incubator space to bio-manufacturing and R&D properties, according to a new report by Newmark. Low lab vacancy rates across life science markets reflect significant demand and limited supply of existing wet lab space.

More than 36 million square feet of new construction is expected to be delivered in the top 14 U.S. life science markets. As a result, institutional investors and landlords across the largest life science clusters are actively re-evaluating the highest and best use for portfolios, and considering converting properties to meet immediate this demand.

The concentration of life science investment volume as a percentage of total office volume reached a record high of 16.4 percent in 2020, more than double the 2019 figure. Average monthly pricing for U.S. life science investment sales has more than tripled from the May 2020 trough, reaching $627 per square foot in December, says Newmark.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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