*1.2.6 Healthcare real estate as an investment*

The development and investment in healthcare real estate [13] by market parties has gained in popularity in recent years. Recent examples are the Belgian real estate funds Aedifica and Cofinimmo. Investments by large investment funds in Dutch healthc`are real estate have increased in recent years from €100 million in 2013 to 338 million euros in 2015. This is partly because, until previously, there was little to no supply of available healthcare buildings was present on the market. After all, healthcare institutions could obtain cheap (and secured) financing from banks. In addition, housing corporations were lining up to co-develop and own the healthcare real estate. Now these developments have changed significantly and various development investment opportunities are becoming available to parties on the market. The increasing interest shown by investors, developers and construction companies can also be explained by the fact that (the properties of) rented healthcare real estate show interesting investment characteristics. If they are compared, for example, with leased offices, industrial premises or retail outlets, they can lead to an attractive diversification of the real estate portfolio for investors. Essential for every investor, developer and construction company is that there is a healthy business case under the healthcare operation and that the long-term rent can be raised in a healthy way. For investors, there are also advantages and disadvantages (**Figure 3**).
