Healthpeak Properties (NYSE: DOC) currently pays a $1.22 annualized dividend, yielding roughly 7% at recent prices, and 2025 adjusted funds from operations of $1.69 per share covered that payout with room to spare. The bigger questions for anyone weighing the Healthpeak REIT dividend and risks are whether coverage holds through 2026 after the company spun most of its senior housing into a separately traded entity, how the distribution will be taxed in your account, and what could go wrong in the two property segments that now define the business.
What You Actually Own When You Buy DOC
Healthpeak today is a focused bet on two property types. Outpatient medical buildings — the clinics, specialist offices, and ambulatory surgery centers usually clustered near hospitals — generate about 55% of same-store net operating income. Life science lab and research space leased to biotech and pharmaceutical tenants generates about 34%.1Healthpeak Properties. Quarterly Results – Healthpeak Properties, Inc. A residual continuing care retirement community portfolio makes up the rest.
Two recent transactions produced that mix. On March 1, 2024, Healthpeak absorbed Physicians Realty Trust, roughly doubling its outpatient medical footprint and adopting the ticker DOC.2Healthpeak Properties. Healthpeak Properties Closes Merger with Physicians Realty Trust3Healthpeak Properties. Healthpeak Properties Announces the Formation of a Pure-Play, RIDEA-Structured Publicly Traded Senior Housing REIT4Healthpeak Properties. Healthpeak Properties and Janus Living Announce Closing of Janus Living Initial Public Offering
One point matters for existing shareholders: this was not a traditional tax-free spin-off. Healthpeak retained a majority stake in Janus Living and acts as its external manager, so the equity interest sits on Healthpeak’s balance sheet rather than showing up in your brokerage account as new JAN shares. You still own DOC; you don’t automatically own JAN.
Retention numbers in the two core segments held up through 2025. Outpatient medical leases renewed at 85–86%, and lab leases at 87–88%.1Healthpeak Properties. Quarterly Results – Healthpeak Properties, Inc. Lab tenants tend to stick because they’ve spent heavily to build out specialized space; medical office tenants stick because their patient base is tied to the location.
The Dividend and Whether It’s Covered
The yield is the reason most people look at Healthpeak. At $1.22 annualized against recent prices, DOC pays around 7%, which is high for a healthcare REIT and reflects the market repricing the stock through a stretch of elevated interest rates and portfolio restructuring.
To judge whether that payout is safe, use AFFO rather than net income. Standard earnings understate a REIT’s cash-generating capacity because they include heavy depreciation charges against real estate that often appreciates. Funds from operations adds that depreciation back, and adjusted funds from operations goes further by subtracting the recurring capital spending needed to keep buildings leaseable.5Nareit. Funds From Operation (FFO) AFFO is the closest read on cash actually available to pay you.
For 2025, Healthpeak reported Nareit FFO of $1.81 per share and AFFO of $1.69 per share.1Healthpeak Properties. Quarterly Results – Healthpeak Properties, Inc. AFFO of $1.69 against a $1.22 dividend is comfortable coverage.
The 2026 outlook is where the picture gets more uncertain. Management guided to Nareit FFO of $1.70 to $1.74 per share, with same-store cash NOI growth ranging from -1% to +1%.1Healthpeak Properties. Quarterly Results – Healthpeak Properties, Inc. Part of the year-over-year decline reflects senior housing income leaving the consolidated results after the Janus Living separation. Healthpeak has not yet issued explicit 2026 AFFO guidance, and that’s the number to watch, because AFFO minus the dividend tells you the actual cushion.
Segment trends behind those numbers: outpatient medical delivered 3.9% same-store cash NOI growth in 2025, a strong result for a property type built on consistency. Life science delivered 1.5% — positive, but modest given the pressure in that market. Net debt to adjusted EBITDAre stood at 5.2x at the end of 2025, within the range generally considered manageable for healthcare REITs, and the company holds investment-grade credit ratings from all three major agencies.1Healthpeak Properties. Quarterly Results – Healthpeak Properties, Inc.
How Healthpeak Dividends Are Taxed
Healthpeak qualifies as a REIT under Part II of Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, meaning the company itself owes little to no corporate income tax as long as it distributes at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders each year.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 857 – Taxation of Real Estate Investment Trusts and Their Beneficiaries It must also draw at least 75% of gross income from real estate sources like rents and property sales.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 856 – Definition of Real Estate Investment Trust
The consequence for you is that the bulk of a REIT dividend does not qualify for the favorable tax rates that apply to most corporate dividends. Your Form 1099-DIV each January will split the year’s distribution into three components: ordinary income, capital gains, and return of capital.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1099-DIV Each is taxed differently.
Ordinary Income Portion and the 20% Section 199A Deduction
Most of a typical REIT distribution falls into the ordinary income bucket and is taxed at your marginal rate. The offset is Section 199A, which lets non-corporate taxpayers deduct up to 20% of qualified REIT dividends.9Internal Revenue Service. Qualified Business Income Deduction REIT dividends qualify for the full deduction regardless of income level, which is a meaningful distinction from other kinds of qualified business income that are subject to wage and property limits.
The 199A deduction was scheduled to expire at the end of 2025 but was made permanent by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law on July 4, 2025. That removes a piece of tax uncertainty that had been hanging over REIT investors.
Capital Gains and Return of Capital
Any portion of the distribution labeled as capital gains on your 1099-DIV is taxed at the long-term capital gains rate. Return of capital is different: it isn’t taxed in the year received. Instead, ROC reduces your cost basis in the shares, and you pay capital gains tax on that reduction when you sell. Real estate companies often produce substantial ROC because their depreciation deductions push taxable income below the cash they distribute. Track these basis adjustments; your brokerage may or may not do it for you.
One planning note: because most of the distribution is taxed as ordinary income, REIT shares are often more efficient held inside an IRA or other tax-advantaged account than in a taxable brokerage account. Inside a retirement account, the ordinary income treatment doesn’t matter and the full yield compounds.
Risks That Could Hit the Dividend
Four risks deserve your attention.
Janus Living execution. Healthpeak still owns a majority stake in Janus Living and earns external management fees from it, so the senior housing exposure didn’t actually leave — it changed form. If Janus Living underperforms as a standalone company, the value of that retained stake declines, and the management fee arrangement could face renegotiation pressure. This is the newest risk in the story and has the least track record behind it.
Life science oversupply. By the fourth quarter of 2025, the lab vacancy rate across the 13 largest U.S. markets sat at 23.0%. That was the first quarterly decline since 2022, but the level remains high enough to suppress rents on new leases and renewals. Healthpeak’s own retention has held up, but every lease eventually rolls, and tenants renegotiate harder when alternatives are plentiful. The 2026 same-store guidance range of -1% to +1% reflects that pressure.
Interest rates. A 5.2x leverage ratio means refinancing costs matter. Higher rates raise borrowing expense and make a 7% yield look less compelling next to Treasuries. Lower rates work the other way, generally lifting REIT valuations as income buyers rotate back in.
Medicare reimbursement. Healthpeak doesn’t bill Medicare, but its outpatient medical tenants do, so the annual Medicare Physician Fee Schedule flows indirectly through to rent-paying capacity. For 2026, CMS set the conversion factor at approximately $33.40 to $33.57 depending on alternative payment model participation, up about 3.3–3.8% from the prior year’s $32.35.10Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Calendar Year (CY) 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule That’s a favorable update, but the fee schedule is reset annually and has historically been unpredictable. A steep cut in a future year would squeeze tenant margins first and lease renewals later.
None of these risks is a reason on its own to avoid the stock, and the current AFFO coverage gives the dividend a real margin of safety. What they do mean is that the 7% yield isn’t free — it reflects genuine uncertainty about how 2026 plays out, and the AFFO number when it’s finally guided will tell you whether the cushion is intact.