REIT Rankings Best Real Estate Investment Trust Rankings – REIT Rankings
Cliff Majersik, executive director with the Institute for Market Transformation, joined REIT.com for a video interview at NAREIT’s 2015 Leader in the Light Working Forum in Reston, Va.
The Institute for Market Transformation is a non-profit organization that aims to encourage energy efficiency and green building. Majerisk said the firm believes REITs can be market leaders in promoting sustainable real estate.
Mona Benisi, director of sustainability at Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE: SPG), joined REIT.com for a video interview at NAREIT’s 2015 Leader in the Light Working Forum in Reston, Va.
Benisi noted that one of the issues surrounding green leases in the retail sector is that of properly explaining what the contract involves.
“It’s a new topic; it’s evolving, both for landlords and tenants. I think a big challenge is having proper communication and really explaining what is part of a green lease,” Benisi said.
REITs started 2015 on solid ground, as continued low interest rates and promising fundamentals helped the sector outperform the broader market in January.
The FTSE NAREIT All REITs Index had a total return of 5.6 percent last month, while the return on the S&P 500 Index fell 3.0 percent.
Anthony Paolone, senior analyst at JP Morgan, noted that the broader market was impacted by jitters concerning oil prices, the dollar and Europe’s economy. Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 0.5 percent in January.
In the latest episode of ABC’s popular reality series “Shark Tank,” which aired on Jan. 30, Kevin O’Leary, chairman of O’Leary Funds and a member of the show’s panel of venture capitalists, touted the investment benefits of the REIT-based real estate investment.
John Forester, director of energy and sustainability at REIT Management & Research LLC, joined REIT.com for a video interview at NAREIT’s 2015 Leader in the Light Working Forum in Reston, Va.
REIT Management & Research is a private company that manages publicly traded REITs. Forester noted that the company has sought to improve the process of collecting and aggregating data across its asset base by investing in a new platform that allows for the collection of information “other than what is typically shown on an invoice.”
Joshua Kagan, senior fellow with the Carbon War Room and director of business development at the Clean Fund, joined REIT.com for a video interview at NAREIT’s 2015 Leader in the Light Working Forum in Reston, Va.
The Carbon War Room is an entrepreneurial non-profit organization intended to use market forces to tackle climate change. The Clean Fund, meanwhile, provides financing that allows energy efficiency, water efficiency and renewable energy projects to be repaid through a voluntary property assessment.
Nils Kok, founder and executive director of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), joined REIT.com for a video interview at NAREIT’s 2015 Leader in the Light Working Forum in Reston, Va.
GRESB is an industry-driven organization that assesses the sustainability performance of real estate portfolios around the globe. Kok noted that during the past 18 months, he has observed an increasing interest in “green bonds” from fixed-income investors. The proceeds from these bonds are used to finance sustainability initiatives.
Sukanya Paciorek, senior vice president of corporate sustainability at Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO), joined REIT.com for a video interview at NAREIT’s 2015 Leader in the Light Working Forum in Reston, Va.
Vornado, which was a 2014 Leader in the Light award winner, focuses on the New York and Washington, D.C., office markets, as well as New York street retail.
Paciorek discussed Vornado’s approach to sustainability and offered suggestions for companies wishing to improve their sustainability profile.
Aaron Binkley, director of sustainability at Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), joined REIT.com for a video interview at NAREIT’s 2015 Leader in the Light Working Forum in Reston, Va.
Digital Realty owns more than 130 data center locations globally.
In the interview, Binkley addressed the unique sustainability challenges facing the data center sector.
