HEALTHCARE property investor the Medical Property Fund has acquired its second health centre in Manchester as part of a £47m deal. Health property - hospitals, GPs' surgeries and health centres - is one of the fastest growing areas of the property investment scene.

Chester-based MPF acquires the Collegiate Medical Centre, Cheetham Hall, in a deal with Apollo Medical Partners.

The centre was purpose-built in 2003 with `state-of-the-art' facilities. The tenants are Dr Avril Mattison and her five GP partners, who serve 10,250 patients in the inner-city area. Andrew Darke, responsible for Medical Property Fund investments in the north west, said: "We continue to be interested in acquiring premises, either from GPs for sale and leaseback, or investments from developers.

"At the same time we can forward-fund new developments that have approval from primary care trusts. We have over £140m still available to invest and can help accelerate the badly-needed renewal of primary care premises in the NHS."

Traditionally, primary health care premises have been owned by GPs, but ownership is becoming increasingly unattractive to doctors, for whom property ownership is troublesome and distracting.

The Medical Property Fund, floated on the stock market in November 2003, has so far invested over £260m in 72 properties across the UK, including 17 in the north west. Tweet