Market Commentary

Disappointing earnings from the some of the largest companies outside of the REIT space weighed heavily on REITs at the close of the month.

U.S. REITs raised $25.4 billion from IPOs and secondary debt and equity offerings in the first quarter of 2022.

Despite continuing high inflation, REIT returns continue to outpace returns for the S&P 500 on an annualized basis and REIT operating performance growth has exceeded price growth in 2021.

March returns total 7.4% for the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index and 6.5% for the FTSE Nareit Equity REITs Index.

REITs average higher returns over multi-year time horizons compared to private real estate with a broader allocation across innovative property sectors, according to Nareit analysis of past performance.

The additions, deletions and classification changes will be applied on Friday, Mar. 18, 2022.

Historically, REITs have performed well during periods of rising long-term interest rates with average four-quarter return in periods with rising rates of 16.55% compared to 10.68% in non-rising rate periods from the first quarter of 1992 to the fourth quarter of 2021.

Over 3.4 million workers who had gone back to telecommuting during January were back in the office in February

REITs have outperformed private real estate property and fund indexes through the fourth quarter of 2021 and have an annual increase of 41.3% in 2021 compared to 22.2% for private real estate.

REIT earnings, as measured by funds from operations (FFO), rose 24.6% in the full year 2021 as the recovery from the early stages of the pandemic gained momentum.

There are currently 41 countries and regions, accounting for 85% of global GDP with a combined population of nearly 5 billion people, that have enacted REIT legislation.

The 2022 Pensions & Investments annual survey of pension plans found that REIT assets in the largest 200 U.S. retirement plans grew 22% to $34.2 billion during the year.