Nareit's REIT Report Podcast

Andrew Duffy, co-founder, managing partner, chief investment officer, and senior portfolio manager of Ranger Global Real Estate Advisors, an independent investment advisor, was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast.Duffy spoke about: the state of commercial real estate today and how Ranger Global distinguishes between the performance of geographies and property types; the appeal of next generation property types; the advantages and risks of investing domestically versus globally; the dislocation between listed and private real estate; and the benefits of investing in listed real estate funds.

Chris Benjamin, CEO of Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NYSE: ALEX), was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast.Benjamin, who will step down as CEO on June 30, reflected on his tenure at A&B, why supporting community organizations has played an important complement to his executive role, the transformation the company has undergone and its decision to convert to a REIT, changing the culture of A&B and its progress on DEI issues, and more.Benjamin said that now is a good time for a transition in leadership, given that “we have nearly completed the significant transformation that we’ve gone through as a company.” The leadership change also coincides with Benjamin’s 60 th birthday, a point at which he is eager to pursue new interests. Lance Parker, currently A&B's president & COO, has been appointed president & CEO effective July 1.

John Haskell, founder and chief investment officer at Atla Capital Management LLC, was a guest on the latest episode of the Nareit REIT Report.During the interview, Haskell talked about the opportunities from investing in global emerging market listed real estate, the scope of the market, the key theme of urbanization, challenges posed by the lack of reporting standardization, the potential shelter that emerging markets offer relative to other markets, and more.Haskell manages the Atla Global Urbanization Listed Fund. A key theme for the fund is urbanization, and the opportunities presented by the rapid rise of emerging market cities.“The greatest social and economic transformations in the world today are in developing countries and it all comes down, in my opinion, to urbanization. While developed cities have mostly plateaued in population growth, emerging market cities are inflecting in population and in wealth,” Haskell said.

Jonathan Miniman, global portfolio manager and head of the Americas real estate securities research team at CBRE Investment Management, was a guest on the latest episode of the Nareit REIT Report.During the interview, Miniman discussed: concerns impacting commercial real estate—including the banking crisis; potential opportunities for REITs in the months ahead; the role REITs can play in conjunction with private real estate; and the role that active managers can play for REIT investors.Miniman said that the repricing of REITs that occurred last year, coupled with a likely near-term pausing in interest rate hikes, provide a “catalyst” for the asset class going forward.“The listed market has taken a whole lot of the pain already,” Miniman said. He noted that in the past four historical interest rate increase cycles, listed REITs have started to gain ground about three months prior to the final increase.

REITs are likely to attract growing interest from private real estate funds looking to deploy capital where they see value discrepancies, says Christian Busken, senior vice president and director of real assets at FEG Investment Advisors.“There's a growing recognition that REITs present some attractive opportunities and I think that we'll see more private firms getting into the space,” Busken told the REIT Report podcast. He noted that “it's not unusual for us to see some of our private real estate funds selectively take positions in REITs where they see some kind of a value discrepancy.”Busken added that with $300 billion-plus of private real estate dry powder on the sidelines and needing to be deployed, “we could definitely see more private funds playing in the market.”

Recent survey data from Columbia Threadneedle Investments shows that 93% of financial advisors plan to maintain or increase their real estate allocations over the next 12 to 24 months, confirming that the “timing is right” for the launch of the Columbia Research Enhanced Real Estate ETF (NYSE Arca: CRED), says Marc Zeitoun, head of strategic beta at the global asset manager.Columbia Threadneedle launched CRED on April 26. The ETF tracks a custom, proprietary index which typically tracks 70-90 REITs weighted across eight sectors. It is designed to outperform the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index through research-driven security selection and modified market cap weighting that emphasizes income and geographic opportunity.Speaking on the REIT Report, Zeitoun noted that the firm’s survey data also showed that 82% of financial advisors favored the REIT structure as a way to express their preferences in real estate. “So, we think that timing is right, and we know for sure that the packaging is right relative to the way that advisors and allocators build their client portfolios.”

REITs are making gains across the board in adopting practices that enable investors to make informed decisions taking into account environmental and social strategy and performance, says Jessica Long, Nareit senior vice president for environmental stewardship and sustainability.Speaking on the REIT Report, Long noted that Nareit’s latest REIT ESG Dashboard shows that 100% of the top 100 REITs are reporting publicly on ESG in some manner. “REITs really are demonstrating that as an industry, real estate is taking seriously the requests from investors and regulators and other key stakeholders that are saying that ‘these environmental and social issues are important to us and we want to understand how you're managing those things.’”One data point in the latest dashboard shows that 89% of REITs are reporting on their climate risk policy. Long noted that these percentages show that REITs “are out ahead on this….and putting in place policies and procedures and looking at the metrics to help better manage this risk and understand what's happening within a REIT’s real estate portfolios.”

Championing change related to diversity, equity, and inclusion matters requires organizations to actively commit people and resources to the task, to clarify that change is everybody’s responsibility, and to build coalitions wherever possible, says Adjoa B. Asamoah, an advocate of racial equity and an award-winning social impact strategist.Asamoah, a keynote speaker at Nareit's REITwise: 2023 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference, developed the legislative strategy for the CROWN Act and leads the movement on behalf of the CROWN Coalition to end race-based hair discrimination.Speaking on the Nareit REIT Report, she described the CROWN Act as a “blueprint for championing change,” and added that it has been “groundbreaking on so many fronts and really shows that people can have a role in creating the society that they want to live in.”

A record number of products still under development in the life sciences sector continue to provide tailwinds for the industry, despite volatility in the broader macroeconomic environment, says Matt Gardner, CBRE’s U.S. life sciences leader.Speaking on the Nareit REIT Report, Gardner noted that a bull run of investment in life sciences, that started in 2015, “left us with an incredible number of products in development. And those are still there.”Gardner stressed that the life sciences industry doesn’t follow broader economic patterns. “If a product takes 10 to 15 years to develop, the investment in that product isn't going to follow a seven year economic cycle, which is why we look at this record number of products in phase two and phase three clinical trials as such an important sign of the industry's overall wellbeing. The science is still there,” he said.

Residential REITs offer investors a safe option amid current volatility, with strong balance sheets, leasing tailwinds, and the continued shortage of affordable starter homes among the key factors supporting growth in the sector, says David Auerbach, managing director at Armada ETF Advisors.Armada’s flagship product HAUS is an exchange traded fund (ETF) comprised of 25 pure play residential REITs in the multifamily, manufactured housing, single-family rental, and senior housing segments. It recently celebrated its one year anniversary of being a publicly traded entity.Speaking to the Nareit REIT Report, Auerbach noted that most REITs in the residential sector were able to lock in attractive long-term debt and are well-capitalized to handle the current interest rate environment.As for leasing and rent growth trends, Auerbach pointed to continued strength in many of the Sunbelt markets, while there are signs of residents returning to some of the coastal markets as well.