Real Estate Disrupters Will Create Opportunities, Analyst Says
06/15/2016 | by Sarah Borchersen-Keto

Joi Mar, real estate analytics analyst at Green Street Advisors, joined REIT.com for a video interview at REITWeek 2016: NAREIT’s Investor Forum at the Waldorf Astoria New York.

Mar commented on the work Green Street has been conducting on real estate disrupters. She noted that many of the potential disrupters Green Street is studying, including e-commerce, driverless cars, ride-sharing platforms and Airbnb, are long term in nature. As a result, these disrupters are often not reflected in seven-year internal rate of return (IRR) models.

“It’s impossible to know exactly how these real estate disrupters will impact long-term growth rates across different property sectors, but we’re trying to take a thoughtful approach to relative risks,” Mar said.

“What we do know is that real estate disrupters will create winners and losers, and that creates investment opportunities,” Mar added.

Driverless cars and ride-sharing companies such as Uber “can shred the urban planning playbook and change the way real estate should be evaluated,” according to Mar.

Meanwhile, Mar observed that the share prices of some REIT segments are already feeling the impact of long-term disrupters, while shares of other sectors facing similar odds have yet to feel any effect.