“Investment in UK healthcare is soaring – this is the third year direct real estate investment has gone above the £1 billion mark. But far more could be done, with some £20 billion of capital looking for opportunities to invest in the healthcare sector if barriers to investors were removed. It is critical that more progress is made to realise investment opportunities across the public and independent sectors. The healthcare sector has experienced years of under investment and the NHS is creaking under the pressures now being placed upon it due to trends such as an ageing population. A new wave of investment is critical to ensuring it can evolve to meet the needs of the population and lessons of the past need to be learnt about how the public sector can engage in a sustainable long term manner, with the private sector.

By 2030, the number of people aged 60 or over is expected to pass the 20 million mark[1] and will require increasingly specialist support, care and property from which this may be developed. Whilst investment into the elderly care market in 2014 continued in the same vein as recent years, notably of the c.£1.2 billion invested last year, less than £500m was via direct real estate investment, the remainder being corporate acquisitions. We anticipate this capital seeking new and innovative ways to invest in healthcare real estate. Responsible investment of real estate capital can go a long way to improving our health and social care facilities so they are fit to meet the needs of our population.”