2Q26 Preview: Life Science funding greenshoots, leasing remains subdued

Research evidence excerpt

2Q26 Preview: Life Science funding greenshoots, leasing remains subdued

Goldman Sachs Americas Healthcare REITs

Exhibit 4: US Pharma and Medicine manufacturing has

grown ~20% since 2017

US Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing Index

2017-12-01 2018-04-01 2018-08-01 2018-12-01 2019-04-01 2019-08-01 2019-12-01 2020-04-01 2020-08-01 2020-12-01 2021-04-01 2021-08-01 2021-12-01 2022-04-01 2022-08-01 2022-12-01 2023-04-01 2023-08-01 2023-12-01 2024-04-01 2024-08-01 2024-12-01 2025-04-01 2025-08-01 2025-12-01 2026-04-01

Indexed to 12/31/2017

Source: FRED, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

2Q26 Funding Grants Accelerate

The past year has been marked by numerous changes and disruptions to the historically

steady and reliable federal funding for science and research. The NIH has changed its

budgeting strategy and instead of paying out year by year has shifted to paying out a

multi-year budget upfront, drastically reducing the number of grants being given out.

However, during 2Q26 there was a notable acceleration in the number of grants being

awarded.

Exhibit 5: Number of extramural grants lagging historical

averages

Number of NIH Extramural Awards by Awarded Month

2022-2024 2026 30000

Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

Source: NIH REPORTER, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

Leasing Volumes Yet to Reflect Greenshoots

2Q26 CoStar data indicates that life science leasing volumes remained weak in the

second quarter, down -4% YoY, among the weakest quarters of the last 10 years. Life

science leasing volumes remain impacted after funding concerns and over supply have

plagued key markets over the past few years. R&D leasing accounted for ~24% of total

leasing volume and overall new leasing volume decreased -55% YoY. Manufacturing new