The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, known as The CARES Act, was passed with great fanfare and a lot of promise. In a lot of ways, it hasn’t lived up to that hype as small businesses struggled to get the help that they needed.

But Kyle O’Connor, President and Founder of MLL Capital, which owns medical and life sciences facilities, thinks one sector was well-positioned to benefit from The CARES Act.

“One of the things that has been a big help for the medical industry has been The CARES Act, whether it be the payroll protection program [PPP] or the other funding that went to the health systems,” O’Connor says. “That has, I believe, helped quite a bit.”

O’Connor thinks the medical sector has received many benefits from the act that haven’t been there for other sectors.

“If you look throughout the economy, not every type of business

Virtual inspections have helped to move transactions during the pandemic. These inspections have been essential to maintaining social distancing and health and safety requirements during the pandemic without totally stalling the investment market, but the benefits have extended beyond the pandemic. In fact, lenders are realizing surprising benefits of virtual inspections, including cost savings, depending on the location and property.

“In addition to helping minimize in-person contact during a pandemic, virtual inspections can help save companies the cost and time associated with flying an inspector across the country or state for a traditional in-person inspection,” Matthew Stoehr, chief technology officer at Sabal Capital, tells GlobeSt.com. “However, it is important to note that virtual inspections can cost several hundred dollars to conduct, so in some cases they are more costly to utilize. Sabal has inspectors located across the country, so flying an inspector across the state may actually be

Walgreens Boots Alliance and VillageMD are expanding their partnership with a $1 billion deal in which between 500 to 700 primary care offices will be opened in Walgreens’ drug stores over the next five years. After that the plan calls for hundreds more to be built. 

The offices, which will be located in more than 30 US markets. will be staffed by more than 3,600 primary care providers recruited by VillageMD. More than 50% will be located in Health Professional Shortage Areas and Medically Underserved Areas/Populations, as designated by the US Department of Health and Human Services. There will also be 24/7 care available via telehealth and at-home visits. 

This  nationwide rollout follows a trial with five in-store clinics in the Houston, Texas area, which opened last November.

Stefano Pessina, executive vice chairman and CEO of the Walgreens Boots Alliance called these clinics “a significant step forward in creating the

It may feel like we’re in uncharted waters with COVID-19, but Lee Menifee, PGIM Real Estate’s Head of Americas Investment Research, says there are things we can learn from history.

“I absolutely do think there are clues from past downturns,” Menifee says. “The thing that I’m looking most carefully at [this time] is how real estate is priced, both in an absolute sense and versus other asset classes, in this downturn relative to previous downturns.” 

In past downturns, real estate values have fallen for two reasons, according to Menifee. One reason was that the underlying income in properties fell. The other was that investors attached a higher risk to certain properties.

Previous economic cycles have also shown that investors favor real estate, but they see a significant distinction between the different types of real estate. That should play out again in this cycle.

Given what is happening with interest rates

While the housing market appears to be faring well against the current recession, multifamily real estate in particular traditionally performs best under economic distress. In other words, the expectations for the post-pandemic housing market are compelling, and this is especially true for multifamily real estate since it is often regarded as “the most resilient property sector to recessions.” For example, during the 2001 recession, US multifamily property rents fell by 6.7%, whereas office rents fell by 7.4% and industrial rents fell by 17%. Furthermore, post-recession, US multifamily property rents grew at considerably higher rates than the rents of office properties and the rents of industrial properties. The multifamily housing market exhibited similar behavior in 2008. During the 2008 recession, US multifamily property rents fell by 7.9%, whereas office rents fell by 17.7%, industrial rents fell by 17.5% and retail rents fell by 14.1%. After the 2008 recession, multifamily rents exhibited