Nareit's REIT Report Podcast

Private equity funds, endowments, and large institutional investors will continue to have a large appetite for commercial real estate given the current inflationary environment and geopolitical uncertainty, says John Sullivan, chair of DLA Piper’s U.S. real estate practice and co-chair of its global real estate practice. Speaking on the Nareit REIT Report, Sullivan said that asset classes with the...

Global investment in U.S. real estate is at its strongest-ever level, with non-core markets and multifamily and industrial asset classes continuing to lead the charge in terms of investor interest, according to Gunnar Branson, CEO of AFIRE, the association for international real estate investors focused on commercial property in the U.S. Speaking on the Nareit REIT Report, Branson noted that while...

A skills gap within the real estate industry means that to attract talent, firms must adopt human capital strategies that align with changes in employee expectations, says Gemma Burgess, president of Ferguson Partners. Burgess will become CEO of Ferguson, a global professional services firm, on June 1. Speaking on the REIT Report, Burgess attributed a skills gap within the real estate industry to...

Although a return to the office has started in earnest, it will take the rest of 2022 to take hold, and even longer before clear patterns of usage emerge, says Julie Whelan, global head of occupier research at CBRE. Speaking on the REIT Report, Whelan said it will likely be 2023 “before we can really start to hang our hat on trends that we can say are stable [in order] to build assumptions about w...

Angel Oak Mortgage, Inc . (NYSE: AOMR) CFO Brandon Filson sees the non-qualified mortgage (QM) loan segment reverting over time to its historical level of about 10% of the overall mortgage market, compared to 2% today, providing the mREIT with significant opportunity for growth in the years ahead. Speaking on the REIT Report, Filson noted that 10% of the overall market would be about $200 billion,...

Business models are central to corporate performance and wealth creation, and even the most complex models can be reduced to six basic variables, says Chris Volk, a veteran REIT executive, business leader, and author. Speaking on the REIT Report, Volk discussed his upcoming book, The Value Equation, which will be published on May 10. Volk also discussed his career, during which he introduced and l...

Capital flow of non-traded alternative investments could grow to a $250 billion a year market within the next five years, with early 2022 data already pointing to a record-breaking year for fundraising in the sector, according to the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives (IPA). Speaking on the REIT Report on April 18, Anya Coverman, SVP, government affairs and general counsel at IPA, said the outlo...

Outside of the industrial sector, residential real estate in the United States “probably has the best supply-demand backdrop in global real estate right now,” says Ryan Dobratz, portfolio manager of the Third Avenue Real Estate Value Fund. Speaking on the REIT Report, Dobratz said he sees “a significant amount of demand for single family housing, in particular within more affordable Sunbelt market...

Proposed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rules to enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures for investors are just the first step in terms of finding the right balance of what's required from a regulatory perspective, said Uma Pattarkine, a senior investment strategy analyst and global ESG lead for CenterSquare Investment Management. Pattarkine told the REIT Report that the...

Laurie Baker, COO at Camden Property Trust (NYSE: CPT), says the importance of gender equity and diversity within the commercial real estate industry has been amplified as a result of the pandemic. Speaking on Nareit’s REIT Report, Baker said that while more women are rising to key leadership positions across the industry, the pandemic “in many ways stalled the progress that was being made because...

Dallas Tanner, president and CEO of Invitation Homes Inc . (NYSE: INVH), says the REIT’s $250 million investment in Pathway Homes will expand choice in the housing market by helping first-time homebuyers who lack access to traditional avenues to home ownership. Speaking on the REIT Report, Tanner said Pathway, launched in partnership with Regis Group and Fifth Wall, is an opportunity to support a...

Committed leadership and statements backed up by substantive action are key to ensuring that organizations make progress on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), according to Kira Banks, co-founder of the Institute for Healing Justice and Equity at Saint Louis University, where she is also an associate professor in the department of psychology. Speaking on the REIT Report, Banks notes that since...

Anticipated interest rate increases of about one and a half percentage points by year-end will still create a “very favorable” environment for commercial real estate, says Nareit Senior Economist Calvin Schnure. Speaking on the Nareit REIT Report, Schnure noted that it is “appropriate” for the Federal Reserve to be raising interest rates at this point and removing the stimulus that was put in plac...

Transaction activity in the hotel sector this year is expected to be “incredibly strong,” with robust pricing continuing in the luxury resort segment and the start of a recovery in business transient and group demand, according to Kevin Davis, CEO of JLL Hotels & Hospitality, Americas. Speaking on the REIT Report, Davis noted that JLL has more than $12 billion in its U.S. hotel sales and finan...

Investing in the farmland sector offers stability, strong income, good total returns, and inflation hedge characteristics, among other benefits, according to Martin Davies, global head of Nuveen Natural Capital. Speaking on the REIT Report, Davies also noted that “one very compelling theme is not being correlated to the economic cycle. Through the COVID-19 pandemic we’ve seen no dip-off in farmlan...

The data center sector is playing a significant role in getting utilities to increase the use of renewables across the electricity grid and bring about the larger goal of a 90% carbon-free electricity system by 2030, according to Breana Wheeler, director of operations at BREEAM USA. Speaking on the REIT Report on Jan. 24, Wheeler noted that the focus on decarbonizing the grid is “really critical,...

Prologis, Inc . (NYSE: PLD) Global Head of Capital Deployment Dan Letter says ongoing efforts by companies to rebuild inventories to pre-pandemic levels, and a focus on resiliency rather than efficiency in the supply chain, will create multi-year tailwinds for the REIT. Speaking on the REIT Report, Letter noted that inventory to sales levels are 10% below where they stood pre-pandemic. “Our custom...

With a footprint heavily weighted toward the Sunbelt, plus an expanding portfolio of necessity retail assets, Michael Weil, CEO of American Finance Trust, Inc . (Nasdaq: AFIN), says the REIT is well-positioned for 2022 and beyond. Speaking on the REIT Report podcast Jan. 12, Weil said the company’s proposed $1.3 billion acquisition of shopping center assets from subsidiaries of CIM Real Estate Fin...

The REIT industry is closing out 2021 in a position of strength, with ample financing available, brisk merger and acquisition activity, high and rising rents, and elevated asset levels, according to Evan Hudson, partner and real estate capital markets legal expert at Stroock. “The credit markets are incredibly active, they’re liquid, they’re deep,” Hudson said. He noted that in addition to common...

The economy will enter 2022 on a firm footing and should be able to withstand a variety of challenges that have emerged in recent months, providing a backdrop for continued solid REIT performance, says Nareit Senior Economist Calvin Schnure. Schnure noted that the economic mood has shifted over the last couple of months, reflecting the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, supply chain issues, price spike...

Total REIT M&A activity through the third quarter of 2021 has already surpassed levels seen in 2019 and 2020, boosted by price recovery, attractive financing, and renewed pressure from activist investors, says Blake Liggio, partner in the real estate industry group of global law firm Goodwin. “Pricing for deals has improved coming out of the pricing troughs that we saw in many sectors during t...

The hotel and lodging sector is showing a varied recovery, as it outperforms 2019 levels in some areas but struggles in others, according to Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (NYSE: PEB) Chairman, President, and CEO Jon Bortz. Speaking on Nareit’s REIT Report, Bortz noted that strength in the market has tended to be concentrated in resorts, particularly drive-to resorts, which are often achieving higher occ...

The real estate industry needs to collaborate and embrace technology as it works to reduce carbon emissions or else face having external mandates forced upon it, says Peter Gajdoš, a partner at venture capital firm Fifth Wall. Speaking on the Nareit REIT Report, Gajdoš, who co-leads Fifth Wall’s climate technology investment team, noted that although tackling carbon emissions will take decades, th...

Increased customer demand for logistics labor, combined with rising worker expectations around training and career opportunities, has led Prologis, Inc . (NYSE: PLD) to expand its logistics training program to six major logistics hubs, with plans to add programs in nine additional national markets by the end of 2021. Speaking on Nareit’s REIT Report, Steven Hussain, vice president of workforce pro...

Farmland real estate is one of the nation’s largest commercial real estate sectors and its low risk and volatility profile makes it a “great hedge” within a balanced portfolio, says Pierre Rigaud, vice president, advisory and consulting, at Green Street. Speaking on the REIT Report, Rigaud noted that the farmland real estate sector is valued at $2-3 trillion. Institutional ownership in the sector...