As the ASC industry continues to grow alongside new waves of surgical innovation, patient preferences and shifts to value-based care, real estate markets tied to outpatient facilities have also seen significant shifts in recent years.
Here are 10 things for leaders to know about the shifting landscape of ASC, outpatient and medical office building real estate:
1. Heightened demand for MOB facilities has been documented particularly in the Sun Belt, real estate services firm JLL said in its 2026 Medical Outpatient Building Perspective report released March 24. But current development trends are pacing behind demand, with about 93% of current MOB space nationwide currently occupied.
2. The mismatch of outpatient supply and demand was most notable in cities in Florida and Texas. Orlando, for example, is projected to see a 16.4% increase in outpatient visits through 2029, but construction of the necessary sites is projected to grow by only 3.8%.
3. Dallas-Forth Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Atlanta, Phoenix, Washington D.C. and Boston were all metropolitan areas identified in the report as having significant gaps between their outpatient visit and construction growth.
4. New York City—specifically Manhattan—was the only area identified in which construction growth outpaced outpatient visit growth, at 9.6% 8.4%, respectively.
5. Large healthcare networks, on the other hand, are actively building new hospitals, medical offices and clinics. Big healthcare systems are responsible for about 57% of the healthcare real estate under construction, according to JLL.
6. ASCs are commanding the highest rent increases of any outpatient facility type, with rents climbing more than 8% even as leases surged 145% between 2022 and 2025, according to a March 26 report from real estate company CBRE.
7. Growth is broad-based across healthcare real estate. Single-specialty occupier leases rose 55% over that period, while diagnostic lab leases climbed 38%, behavioral health 32%, primary care and internal medicine 16%, and multispecialty outpatient providers 11%. Imaging and radiology posted the slowest growth at 4%.
8. Within single-specialty leasing, orthopedics dominates with 22% of leases signed, followed by oncology (11%), cardiology (7%), and ophthalmology and cosmetic surgery (6% each).
9. Fertility, dermatology, and urology each account for 5-6%, while gastroenterology, gynecology and nephrology represent smaller but active shares of the market.
10. ASCs, with their specialized infrastructure requirements, have seen the steepest rent escalations over the past three years. Behavioral health providers and other specialty practitioners, which can operate in conventional office space, have experienced comparatively modest rent growth.
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