TOLEDO, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2004--Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE:HCN) announced today that it had completed $74.2 million of gross investments during the second quarter of 2004.

The investment activity during the quarter was approximately 94 percent real property investments and six percent loans. Facility-based investments include 21 percent assisted living facilities, 73 percent skilled nursing facilities and six percent specialty care facilities. Investments for the quarter included the acquisition of one 61-unit assisted living facility and nine skilled nursing facilities with 1,037 beds as well as a mortgage loan relating to a 145-bed specialty care hospital. These new facilities represented $60.6 million of the investment activity for the quarter. The remaining $13.6 million relates primarily to funding of construction and renovations on existing facilities. During the quarter, the company had asset sales of $33.8 million, including four assisted living facilities, one skilled nursing facility and one specialty care hospital. Net investments for the quarter totaled $40.4 million. For the six months ended June 30, 2004, the company completed gross investments of $161.5 million, offset by $33.8 million of asset sales, which generated a total of $127.7 million of net new investments.

The company also confirmed that it will release its 2004 second quarter earnings results on July 20, 2004, after the market closes. A conference call is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Eastern on July 21, 2004, to discuss these results. The information to be discussed on the call will be contained in the company's earnings release, which will be available on the press releases page of the company's Web site at www.hcreit.com.

The conference call will be accessible by telephone and through the Internet. Telephone access will be available by dialing 973-582-2767 or 877-825-5811. Callers to this number will be able to listen to the company's business update. For those unable to listen to the call live, a taped rebroadcast will be available beginning two hours after completion of the live call on July 21, 2004 through July 28, 2004. To access the rebroadcast, dial 973-341-3080 or 877-519-4471. The conference ID number is 4919533. To participate on the webcast, log on to www.hcreit.com or www.fulldisclosure.com 15 minutes before the call to download the necessary software. A replay will be available on these Web sites for 90 days.

Health Care REIT, Inc., with headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, is a real estate investment trust that invests in health care facilities, primarily skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. For more information on Health Care REIT, Inc., via facsimile at no cost, dial 1-800-PRO-INFO and enter the company code - HCN. More information is available on the Internet at www.hcreit.com.

This document may contain "forward-looking" statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements concern the possible expansion of our portfolio; the performance of our operators and properties; our ability to enter into agreements with new viable tenants for properties which we take back from financially troubled tenants, if any; our ability to make distributions; our policies and plans regarding investments, financings and other matters; our tax status as a real estate investment trust; our ability to appropriately balance the use of debt and equity; and our ability to access capital markets or other sources of funds. When we use words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," or similar expressions, we are making forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. Our expected results may not be achieved, and actual results may differ materially from our expectations. This may be a result of various factors, including, but not limited to: the status of the economy; the status of capital markets, including prevailing interest rates; compliance with and changes to regulations and payment policies within the health care industry; changes in financing terms; competition within the health care and senior housing industries; and changes in federal, state and local legislation. Finally, we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements.

    CONTACT: Health Care REIT, Inc.
             Ray Braun, 419-247-2800
             Mike Crabtree, 419-247-2800
             Scott Estes, 419-247-2800

    SOURCE: Health Care REIT, Inc.