Market Commentary Blog

REIT earnings were impacted by the COVID-19 crisis in the first quarter, with funds from operation (FFO) declining 9.0% from the prior quarter, to $15.0 billion, according to the Nareit T-Tracker®.

The FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs index closed down 8.2% for the week ended May 15^th, the first weekly decline for the month of May.

The most recent rent survey results show that on average for REITs, the share of typical rent collected in May was largely unchanged from April.

There's a $2 trillion stimulus fund you haven't heard about, and it’s growing bigger every day.

Most sectors were up, including a 10.3% total return for timber REITs, a 6.9% total return for specialty REITs and 6.7% total return for commercial financing mREITs.

The two largest risks to the economy from recent layoffs are that job losses spread from the front-line sectors into the broader economy, and that temporary layoffs translate into permanent job losses.

Putting the pieces of connected commerce together in the COVID-19 era.

Nine of the 14 REIT sectors posted a positive total return.

Using the public data along with the privately collected Nareit data, this research note presents a fuller picture of the industry’s rent collection for April.

The business closures and social distancing designed to slow the spread of COVID-19 had a significant impact on demand for commercial real estate, vacancies and rent growth across the major property sectors.

Last week the index posted a total return of negative 4.5%, the second week of single-digit moves after much sharper gyrations both up and down in the early stages of the crisis.

We are not expecting a “V” shaped recovery because some effects of the virus are likely to remain for quite some time. This news on durable goods orders, though, is consistent with underlying business fundamentals remaining intact for now despite the shutdown.