Travis McCready, head of life sciences, Americas markets, at JLL, was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast.

McCready said 2023 was one of the most challenging years in memory for life sciences real estate due to a slowdown in the deployment of venture capital, higher interest rates and inflation, and “rather aggressive” real estate development of lab space in the past two years.

Based on activity so far in 2024, though, “the year is already shaping up to be much more positive than the year before, so fingers crossed that we are looking at a return to an upwards trajectory in the months and year to come,” McCready said.