Nareit's REIT Report Podcast Nareit

Steven Brown, senior vice president and senior portfolio manager for American Century Investments, was a guest on the latest episode of the REIT Report podcast.Brown described the landscape for REIT investment today, noting that most REITs issued earnings growth guidance for 2024 of around 4%.“The REIT earnings outlook still looks very solid,” Brown said. “Demand is better than supply in most property sectors…higher interest rates as well as the higher cost of construction have started to slow supply in many of the markets we invest in. We think the picture is improving for…REIT earnings growth in 2024 and 2025.”Register for Nareit's REITweek: 2024 Investor Conference: https://go.reit.com/reitweekRR

This episode of the REIT Report’s ongoing series “Building to Zero” features Ben Myers, senior vice president of sustainability at BXP (NYSE: BXP) and continues to dig deeper into the real estate industry’s journey to reduce emissions from the built environment.Myers shares his view on why it is so important to take a long term view on electrification, which refers to the replacement of fossil fuel equipment, like internal combustion engines and gas boilers, with electric motors or heat pumps.The common case for electrification is that building owners can decarbonize and utilize equipment that is significantly more efficient. “Electrification of everything is what I'm here to talk about today. And in particular, how to spread this religion around electrification. I am a believer that we need to electrify the built environment and I'll explain why, but I do think that we need to take some important steps to get there,” Myers says.

Matt Werner, senior portfolio manager for REITs at Chilton Capital Management, was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast.Werner emphasized the resilience of public REITs amid economic challenges, especially in managing debt maturities and maintaining dividend payments during periods of uncertainty.According to Werner, public REITs are now positioned to capitalize on market volatility, with robust balance sheets enabling them to acquire distressed properties. "We're still kind of waiting for the sort of big moment for public REITs to go out and make significant acquisitions or for private companies to bite the bullet and decide that going public is the only kind of way to save their company."

Bill Hughes, managing director of liquid strategies at DigitalBridge Investment Management, was a guest on the latest edition of the Nareit REIT Report podcast.Hughes discussed some of the trends and developments in digital infrastructure and real estate securities markets today. He noted that the types of real estate businesses that get characterized as digital infrastructure currently compose around 40% of the publicly traded real estate market by value. “That's something that was not true a decade, a decade and a half ago.”When analyzing digital infrastructure, the same issues that impact traditional real estate—such as supply and demand dynamics, unit level economics, the capital intensity of the asset over time, lease structures, and credit counterparties—should all be considered, Hughes said.

Elisabeth Troni, fund manager with CBRE IM’s flagship global investment strategy, was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report.CBRE IM’s flagship global strategy began to allocate to listed REITs in December 2022. Troni explains the timing behind that decision and the scope it gave the strategy to access niche and specialized property sectors.Since December 2022, the strategy has entirely invested in an actively managed but broadly diversified strategy, Troni said. She added that the addition of a completion strategy, which would unlock opportunities in those specialty sectors, is currently under review.Troni noted that while the market is unsure about when rate cuts may occur, “what we do feel confident about is the fact that higher rates are priced into public markets in terms of the pricing levels, and they have a strong chance to outperform when the market can see the end of rising rates.”

Steve Loffman, managing director at Raymond James, was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. Loffman is also a program director and speaker at Nareit’s REITwise: 2024 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood Florida, March 19-21.Loffman described the contours of the REIT capital market landscape today, noting that broadly speaking, “it's been a little bit challenging,” with REITs trading at a discount to net asset value (NAV). “But as time moves on, and if we believe in the yield curve, which I certainly do, I think we'll be making strides to get closer to NAV from an equity perspective,” he added.