REITs and listed real estate are likely to see minimal impact from ongoing trade tensions, while the sector offers the potential for “outsized returns” due to solid fundamentals, according to Laurel Durkay, senior vice president and portfolio manager of global and U.S. real estate at Cohen & Steers.
Durkay was a guest on the latest edition of the Nareit REIT Report podcast.
The latest edition of the Nareit REIT Report podcast looked at the impact of New York’s recently-passed Climate Mobilization Act with Cliff Majersik, executive director of the Institute for Market Transformation.
The REIT market has seen just a single initial public offering (IPO) this year, and signs are pointing to a dearth of activity for the remainder of 2019, according to Justin Salon, REIT practice co-chair at law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP.
“Typically, you have a handful. To have just one as we sit here almost at June is certainly a downturn in the market,” Salon said. While Morrison & Foerster currently has two IPOs in registration, generally “we’re not seeing a whole lot…we may see a couple this year,” he added.
Technology-oriented REITs have a clear growth trajectory for the years ahead, fueled by secular changes in the economy that are impacting all aspects of daily life.
Portfolio managers Paul Curbo of Invesco and Evan Serton of Cohen & Steers discussed the impact of some of these changes with Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Lindsay Dutch during a May 16 webinar.
The latest edition of the Nareit REIT Report podcast explores the topic of real estate-targeted technology, commonly known as PropTech, with Blake Liggio, a partner in the law firm Goodwin’s Real Estate Industry Group.
PropTech has seen significant acceleration in recent years due to the growth of technologies targeting real estate and the increase in capital supporting those platforms, according to Liggio.
Postal Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: PSTL), a REIT that owns and manages properties leased to the United States Postal Service (USPS), listed on the New York Stock Exchange on May 15.
The Cedarhurst, New York-based REIT will own and manage an initial portfolio of 271 postal properties located in 41 states and will manage an additional 404 postal properties leased to the USPS.
The company priced its IPO at $17 a share.
Kristin Myers, senior vice president of tax at Cousins Properties (NYSE: CSX), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2019 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in San Antonio.
Myers moderated a REITwise panel about day-to-day tax issues and said that services is the top issue for REIT tax directors. She also advised in-house tax staff to keep their external advisors involved on the front end, and not once there is a problem.
“That’s cheap money. You spend that to help solve problems before they happen,” Myers said.
Kelsey Lemaster, partner at Goodwin, participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2019 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in San Antonio.
Lemaster spoke on a REITwise panel about REITs and opportunity zones. He said that from a tax perspective, opportunity zone investments have to be acquired in a certain way that could limit property owners who want to sell their property into a fund, but also participate in the fund.
Kathryn Furman, partner at King & Spalding, participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2019 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in San Antonio.
Furman moderated a REITwise session on alternative capital sources for public REITs and said she considers preferred equity one of the most common alternative capital sources, even though it is publicly offered.
“I think we’re [also] going to see a lot more joint ventures,” she added, noting that they can be used to monetize assets and expand a platform off-balance sheet, among other benefits.
Mark Van Deusen, principal at Deloitte, participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2019 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in San Antonio.
Van Deusen moderated a panel at REITwise about emerging tax issues for REITs. He said that since most public REITs have relatively low leverage, they don’t need to worry about the interest limitation under new section 163(j). However, REITs should be aware that the way the limitation is calculated will change in 2022.
