The office sector continues to battle brutal headwinds as many employees work remotely, at least part of the time. That's reducing the need for office space, causing vacancy rates to rise and rental rates to fall.

However, some industries need physical space. That includes the $5 trillion (and growing) life science industry. Life science companies require specialized lab space to support their highly collaborative (and in-person) teams.

That's proving to be a boon for Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE: ARE), the only pure-play publicly traded office real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on laboratory space. The company's in-demand properties remain highly valued, enabling it to cash in on non-core assets to grow its core portfolio and 4.5%-yielding dividend. 

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Source Fool.com