Nareit's REIT Report Podcast

Matt Werner, managing director & senior portfolio manager at Chilton Capital Management, joined the latest episode of the Nareit REIT Report podcast to discuss why investing in an active REIT strategy today is attractive for a number of reasons.Werner said tariff-induced volatility is a “perfect environment” for an active REIT strategy “because we're able to take advantage of things that we think are selling off more than they should or trimming things that maybe are outperforming our expectations.”He added that across almost all property types, REITs are seeing “growing dividends at the same time as being on the cusp of accelerating earnings.” Valuations also look “pretty fair, especially relative to equities. They look extremely undervalued relative to the historical averages.”

Tim Bodner, real estate deals leader at PwC, shares valuable insights into today's evolving real estate landscape. He notes robust transaction activity across sectors like office, hospitality, and data centers. Bodner emphasizes that REITs are navigating uncertainty with adaptability, focusing on controllable factors. The conversation reveals trends in public-to-public and public-to-private transactions, and highlights the growing intersection of real estate and infrastructure investments amid foreign investment trends.

Michael Seton, president and CEO of Sila Realty Trust, Inc . (NYSE: SILA), joined the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast to reflect upon the one-year anniversary of the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange.Seton said he is “extremely optimistic” about Sila’s future, noting that the REIT is scaled to grow its portfolio, which currently exceeds $2 billion in assets. He said “very high quality” opportunities exist throughout the marketplace.“If a seller is trying to bring a product to market today to raise capital or sell a property, it's got to be high quality because capital, generally speaking in the market, is constrained,” he said. While focused nationally, Sila has a particular emphasis on Sun Belt states.During the interview, Seton discussed Sila’s decision to do a direct listing on the NYSE and why it was confident in that choice, as well as what its Wall Street sponsorship looks like today. He also highlighted the tailwinds supporting the health care sector and described what makes health care so compelling to investors right now.

In this episode of the REIT Report special series, “Building Resilience,” Joanna Frank, Founder, CEO, and President of Center for Active Design, shares how focusing on health and wellness in the built environment builds resilience by focusing on the human impact of extreme weather events.In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Joanna Frank, Founder, CEO, and President of Center for Active Design (CfAD), operator of Fitwel and Active Design Advisors, Inc (Adai) to discuss how public health strategies are helping to transform the built environment and support communities to be more resilient.“How do we use our built environment to create an environment that is resilient and can foster that quality of life and safety for the residents? This was first, I think, brought to the public stage at COP 28, where there was an entire day about health because the true cost of climate change can really only be calculated when you consider the health impacts, not just in this country, but globally, and they are massive.”

Patrick Wilson, a portfolio manager at CenterSquare Investment Management, shares insights on the current favorable landscape for REITs. He highlights how these investment vehicles thrive during economic downturns due to long-term leases and high dividend yields. Wilson discusses potential opportunities within specific sectors, such as senior housing and retail, and contrasts global market trends, particularly between the US and Asia. He emphasizes the importance of active management and the evolving diversification of REITs, which now include non-traditional asset types.

In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Daniel Kaniewski, Managing Director, Public Sector at Marsh McLennan, joins Nareit’s Jessica Long, Senior Vice President of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability, to discuss how his experience as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) first deputy administrator for resilience has led to his current focus advancing resilience investment in the private sector.“During Hurricane Katrina, I was at the White House and saw the mass devastation, and I said, shouldn't we be doing something ahead of time to reduce these disaster losses Americans will almost inevitably face. What I found was there was a small but growing interest in an area called disaster resilience.”Currently, Kaniewski chairs the finance, insurance, and real estate committee at the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), a congressionally chartered nonprofit. He shares how he first got to know NIBS through their 2005 Natural Hazard Mitigation Saves study, which showed that every dollar the federal government invested in hazard mitigation saved four dollars. Then in 2017, “on the heels of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria,” Kaniewski asked NIBS for the bottom line of a forthcoming updated Mitigation Saves study. “They shared that savings were actually, six to one. The updated report found that others benefited from these mitigation investments beyond the federal government. Communities that can continue to function after a disaster will save money, not just to the homeowner or the federal government, but to everyone in that community who would otherwise have to take the time to help those with the losses. Recovery costs were greatly reduced by those hazard mitigation investments.”

Matt Birenbaum, chief investment officer at AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB), joined the REIT Report podcast to discuss the multifamily REIT’s development strategy, including the repurposing of outdated assets, as well as demand drivers in the build-to-rent segment, mixed-use development opportunities, and more.Birenbaum touched on some of the major themes in the multifamily sector today, including the increase in migration to suburban locations and the desire for larger format housing on the part of millennials. That has led to increased demand for build-to-rent homes, an area that AvalonBay is increasing its focus on.Birenbaum also noted that about a third of the REIT’s communities have a retail component. “When you get it right, the whole truly can be more than the sum of the parts. And for us, this is an area where I think we do have a competitive advantage being a REIT because we are building and owning these assets for the long term.”

In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at  First Street Foundation , joins Nareit’s Jessica Long, senior vice president of environmental stewardship and sustainability, to discuss how high-resolution climate models are helping people to understand property-specific impacts from different weather events and to develop and implement adaptation plans.  “One of the ways in which we've thought about climate risk is a one-in-a-100-year event, which implies that if I just had a one-in-a-100-year flood, I don't have to worry about another one, I'm not going to live to be 100 years old. That's not actually how they work,” Porter explains. “Understanding that every year there's an independent opportunity for that probability of an event to occur, so if you look out over the 30 years of a standard residential mortgage, a 1% chance of flooding every year means that over those 30 years, you have a 26% chance of flooding. And so suddenly you're saying, wow, I have over a quarter chance of flooding over the lifetime of my mortgage.” 

Darrell Crate, co-founder and CEO of Easterly Government Properties, Inc., shares valuable insights into the commercial real estate needs of U.S. government agencies. He discusses how Easterly's focus on efficiency aligns with the Department of Government Efficiency's goals. Crate highlights innovative strategies for enhancing operational efficiency in government facilities and the impact on services for veterans. He also explores the importance of public-private partnerships and the shift toward diversifying investments in government-adjacent properties.

David Schanuel, president and COO of SageWater, joined a sponsored episode of the REIT Report podcast to discuss the importance in the multifamily sector of including plumbing and mechanical infrastructure in capital improvement planning.SageWater helps multifamily owners protect their investment and improve residents’ quality of life through turnkey plumbing and mechanical infrastructure solutions. With forensic diagnosis, engineering design, and construction services, they upgrade and install critical systems while renters remain in their homes.Schanuel noted that SageWater primarily focuses on the “substantial amount” of aged infrastructure in the multifamily sector that was delivered in the 1950s-1970s, and sometimes the early 1980s. “Their plumbing and mechanical systems have aged out or phased out of their useful life and really need to be addressed to ensure that the housing stock remains a top-quality asset for the ownership groups that maintain and rent out those facilities.”