Healthcare lending remains vibrant corner of Birmingham credit market

Although residential and commercial construction lending has dried to a trickle in Birmingham, AL, one segment of the credit market has remained vibrant: loans to the city's thriving firms that buy and sell healthcare real estate. Banks and other investors in the industry don't mind backing huge, big money healthcare ventures because doctors don't have much choice: the ones who want the top practices and the highest incomes need to rent space in the best hospitals available. As a result, it translates to pricing power for the landlord.