Tom Wilkin, partner and U.S. REIT leader at PwC, participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITwise: 2023 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference held March 21-23 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Wilkin commented on the overall health of the listed REIT market, noting that the past three years have seen an “unbelievable” amount of change stemming from the pandemic and the societal changes it has ushered in, as well as macroeconomic issues.
Turning to REIT M&A, Wilkin noted that volume is “way down,” reflecting the current challenge of being able to finance transactions. He said volume is likely to stay low for some time. “All of those uncertainties create opportunities. I think at some point it will reverse and you’ll start to see a pickup. Before that pickup happens, we need to see some price stability in the financial markets as well as some more certainty about these longer term trends…and price discovery.”
As for IPOs, the market is likely to struggle for a while, Wilkin said. “It’s going to be an uphill battle to get a traditional property REIT public in the near term, especially given the financing conditions that are out there.” Meanwhile, Wilkin said he expects to see a continued expansion of non-listed REIT products.