Nicole Funari

The growing use of target-date funds (TDFs) remains the dominant investment-related trend in the defined contribution and individual retirement account markets, and REITs continued to be a critical component of TDFs in 2020.

Real estate rents and values tend to increase when prices do, due in part to the fact that many leases are tied to inflation. This supports REIT dividend growth and provides a reliable stream of income even during inflationary periods.

From 2016 to 2019, the jobs equivalent contribution from REITs has risen by 600 thousand.

REIT balance sheets were strong heading into the pandemic with easy access to cash and lines of credit, and operating performance proved to be resilient.

While REITs have underperformed the broader stock market so far in 2020, it is long-term returns that matter.  REITs have been a favorable choice when looking at long-term returns.

Roughly 44% of American households are invested in REIT stocks.

REITs outperformed most other GICs sectors with only 5.8% of the REIT market cap downgraded. REITs were the third best performing GICS sector by this measure.

One of the keys to finding opportunities in the current real estate landscape is by differentiating between transitory and permanent changes in consumer behavior and the use of real estate.

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.

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.