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Sonia Barros, assistant director, division of corporation finance, at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2018 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood, Florida.

Mneesha Nahata, vice president, corporate legal finance at American Tower Corp. (NYSE: AMT), participated in a video interview at REITwise 2018, Nareit’s Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood, Florida.

Concerning corporate governance, Nahata said she is seeing a move this year from compensation-based issues toward a broader framework encompassing board-related matters, such as board diversity and board refreshment, and also sustainability matters.

REITs have typically performed well in periods of rising interest rates and inflation—a fact investors appear to be overlooking in the current market environment, according to participants in a Bloomberg Intelligence webinar April 10.

John Worth, Nareit executive vice president for research and investor outreach, pointed out that REITs have posted positive total returns in 87 percent of previous periods of rising interest rates. In more than half of those times, REITs have outperformed the S&P 500 Index.

Gavin Duckworth, director of hedging and capital markets at Chatham Financial, participated in a video interview at REITwise 2018, Nareit’s Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood, Florida.

Cindy Fornelli, executive director at the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2018 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood, Florida.

The CAQ recently held roundtables on the use of non-Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) standards to find out what drives companies to use these measures to tell their stories. Participants included stakeholders such as investors, audit committee members, preparers and auditors.

Jim Berry, U.S. real estate and construction leader at Deloitte & Touche LLP, participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2018 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood, Florida.

Given recent market volatility, Berry stressed that it’s important to take a historical perspective on REITs and real estate. While REITs may have underperformed compared to the broader market, on a historical basis REITs have had a “pretty good performance.”

“Base fundamentals for most real estate (sectors) are still pretty strong,” Berry said.

Commercial real estate fundamentals are generally healthy, but asset appreciation has clearly slowed, according to a Green Street Advisors webinar April 4.

Andy McCulloch, managing director of real estate analytics at Green Street, noted that “demand for commercial real estate looks okay to pretty good,” with supply deliveries now almost back to their long-term norms. With supply and demand roughly in balance, “on average we’ll see inflationary-type rent growth,” he said.

Tom Wilkin, partner, U.S. REIT leader at PwC, participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2018 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood, Florida.

REIT returns rose in March as investors turned their attention to more defensive sectors of the economy, analysts said.

The total returns of the FTSE Nareit All REITs Index rose 3.7 percent in March, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.5 percent. The total returns of the FTSE Nareit Mortgage REIT Index gained 6.5 percent in March.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 0.1 percent in March.