The investment volume of healthcare real estate has made a strong leap upwards at the beginning of 2026. Driven by two major deals, sales in the first quarter totaled 1.13 billion euros – the highest quarterly result in five years. The average quarterly figure of the past five years (0.42 billion euros) was more than doubled, an increase of 85 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
From January to March, 22 transactions were completed, in which 112 properties were traded. The market was dominated by two major deals: On the one hand, the US investor TPG acquired a portfolio of 31 medical centers and medical care centers from the Canadian Reit Northwest Healthcare Properties, 19 of which are located in Germany. On the other hand, Aedifica secured its share in a nursing home portfolio with 58 properties in Germany by acquiring 80 percent of Cofinimmo.
According to Peter Tölzel, Team Leader Healthcare Investment JLL Germany, the TPG deal is proof that international investors have an appetite for Germany. Recently, however, the buying opportunities have been rare. “As far as we know, the Northwest portfolio is the only medical center portfolio of this dimension that has been on the market in Germany in recent years,” explains Tölzel.
As a result of the two major deals with foreign participation, the proportion of international buyers has risen to almost 95 percent. In previous years, this was usually between 40 percent and 60 percent. The typical proportions of recent years have also shifted in the sub-asset classes. Nursing homes still dominate with around three quarters of total turnover. Compared to the previous year, however, medical centers have secured a much larger piece of the pie and now have a share of 22 percent. “The share shift will very likely remain an outlier. The demand for medical centers is still high, but there is too little product coming onto the market. It can be assumed that the major transaction in the first quarter will remain the only deal of this magnitude for the time being,” says Tölzel.
Demand for medical centers is greater than for nursing homes
What is almost certain, however, is that last year’s transaction volume of 1.4 billion euros will be significantly exceeded this year. For example, the sale of a hospital portfolio worth around 400 million euros is nearing completion. In addition, a number of individual deals and smaller portfolios of two to four properties with nursing homes are already on the market or in preparation – most of them from the core-plus sector and occasionally also with value-add classification. “How well the market will take this is not yet entirely foreseeable. Although a relatively large amount of product from the care sector is currently coming onto the market, demand is weakening somewhat. With the medical centers, it’s the other way around,” Tölzel knows.
Tölzel does not see any impact on pricing due to the excess demand for medical centers. Nor does he see an adjustment in return expectations. At most, there is a slight compression of the prime yield by 25 basis points to 5.1 percent in nursing homes. For assisted living, the prime yield is typically around 50 basis points lower.
