By Stefan Zelich, www.focushealthcarerealty.com
If you’re a dental practice owner with a lease coming up for renewal, the current market presents one of the best opportunities we’ve seen in years to improve your real estate situation. Whether you’re planning to renew, relocate, or explore better options, the data shows the market is working in your favor.
Medical Is Outperforming Non-Medical
The Boston market is seeing a clear split between medical and non-medical office space. According to CoStar’s Q1 2025 report, the medical office sector has consistently outperformed non-medical properties. While CoStar does not break out dental leases separately, dental and medical office trends typically follow the same path.
Vacancy rates for medical office buildings remain in the single digits at 7.5%, compared to over 14.5% for non-medical office properties. While many general office landlords are grappling with high vacancy and slowing demand, healthcare landlords are enjoying consistent leasing activity driven by Boston’s top-tier healthcare providers.
More Landlords Are Open to Dental Tenants
This performance gap has made dental practices increasingly attractive—even to landlords that traditionally focused on general office users. In a softening market, many of these landlords are now actively seeking healthcare-related tenants to stabilize their buildings. That shift has expanded the number of viable locations for dental practices and increased competition, leading to more favorable deals.
Leasing Activity Is Surging
In 2024, Boston saw 870,000 square feet of medical leases signed—a 7-year high. That momentum has carried into 2025, with practices locking in strong deals in both traditional medical office buildings and former general office spaces that have now opened up to healthcare use. While asking rents have held flat, landlords are offering increased incentives to attract and retain tenants.
Flat Rents, Bigger Concessions
CoStar reports that medical office rents grew just 1.1% over the past year, while all office rents increased only 0.2%. But the real leverage is in the concessions. Tenant improvement allowances, free rent, and other incentives have all increased. While asking rents may appear stable, effective rents are down due to these concessions—a major opportunity for dental practices with expiring leases.
Relocation or Renewal? Either Way, There’s Value
Some dental clients have opted to relocate entirely—finding better, more efficient space at more attractive terms. Others have used active proposals and market comps from competing landlords to re-negotiate their renewals, resulting in savings that often reach hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars over the term of the lease. The key is understanding the market and negotiating from a position of strength.
Sale Prices Tell the Story
While medical office sale prices have remained relatively stable, prices for general office buildings have dropped significantly. This shift allows landlords who own general office assets to acquire them at a lower cost—and in turn, offer more aggressive lease terms to attract dental users. It’s another reason why dental tenants have more leverage today than they have in years.
Why You Should Use a Broker
These results don’t happen by accident. Practices that use an experienced broker are far more likely to secure the best possible terms. It’s much different when we call your landlord and explain that you’re testing the market and looking to make the best decision for your practice, versus when a practice executive or doctor calls to negotiate directly.
We help gather competitive offers that allow us to build maximum leverage. We know how hard to push, and we have a strong track record of helping dental practices secure real savings. And we make the process easier every step of the way.
Best of all, we will seek our commission from the landlord or listing broker—so there’s no out-of-pocket cost to the client.
Don’t Miss the Window
If your dental practice has a lease expiring in the next 12–36 months, this is the time to act. Whether you end up renewing or relocating, you should be negotiating from a position of strength—and right now, the market gives you that opportunity.
Stefan Zelich
Principal
FOCUS Healthcare, Brokered by eXp Commercial
617-487-3460
szelich@focushealthcarerealty.com
www.focushealthcarerealty.com