Real Estate Investment Trusts

Jay Leupp, portfolio manager and analyst at Lazard Asset Management, participated in a video interview at Nareit’s 2018 CEO Forum & Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C.

Leupp discussed the potential impact of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on commercial real estate.

“At this point we think it’s a positive impact but we are unclear of what the magnitude will be,” Leupp said. He noted that while cryptocurrencies do facilitate the process of doing business for many industries, it is unclear what future regulation will emerge.

Mark Decker Jr., president and CEO of IRET (NYSE: IRET), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s 2018 CEO Forum & Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C.

Following the sale of two medical office buildings (MOBs) earlier this year, the company is now almost exclusively focused on multifamily assets, Decker said.

“It’s been a big lift on the transactional side so now we’re really going to be focused on operations,” Decker said.

Chris Czarnecki, CEO of Broadstone Real Estate, LLC, participated in a video interview at Nareit’s 2018 CEO Forum & Advocacy Day.

Broadstone is a private REIT that sponsors two investment platforms, Broadtree Residential and Broadstone Net Lease.

Czarnecki discussed Broadstone Residential’s decision to sell its single-family rental portfolio to focus exclusively on multifamily properties.

Michael Schall, president and CEO of Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: ESS), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s 2018 CEO Forum & Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C.

Schall discussed fundamentals across the housing sector.

“The national economy is better and that supports our expectation for market rent growth of around 3 percent in 2018,” Schall said. Underlying that estimate is the combination of limited supply and “decent job growth,” he added.

Edward Aldag, Jr., chairman, president and CEO of Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (NYSE: MPW), joined Nareit for a video interview at Nareit’s CEO Forum & Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C.

During 2017, acquisitions contributed to 33 percent growth in assets year-over-year for Medical Properties Trust.

REIT returns fell in February as macroeconomic factors continued to dominate investor sentiment.

The total returns of the FTSE Nareit All REITs Index fell 7 percent in February, while the S&P 500 fell 3.7 percent.

Total returns of the FTSE Nareit All Equity REITs Index fell 7.3 percent in February. The total returns of the FTSE Nareit Mortgage REIT Index fell 3.3 percent in the month.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose 0.2 percent in February.

Bill Meaney, president and CEO of Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE: IRM), joined Nareit for a video interview at Nareit’s 2018 CEO Forum & Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C.

Meaney provided an overview of operations, noting that Iron Mountain’s core hard document storage business continues to grow in virtually every market, both mature and emerging.

At the same time, the company is seeing growth in new areas of operation, including fine art storage and records storage for the federal government.