Dividend Cuts And Overdue Rent: REIT Earnings Recap

Did the rent get paid? Rent collection and dividend cuts were the primary themes of the most newsworthy and consequential REIT earnings season since the Great Financial Crisis.
Rent collection was largely a non-issue for residential REITs, who collected over 95% of April rents. Industrial, office, self-storage, and healthcare rent collection metrics were similarly strong.
Economic shutdowns ravaged the economically-sensitive property sectors and punished highly-levered REITs. 50 equity REITs - primarily retail and lodging REITs - announced a cut or suspension of their dividends.
2020 was poised to be a solid year of growth for REITs prior to the pandemic. Even with a faster-than-expected reopening, fundamental metrics are likely to be the weakest since at least 2009.
Equity and Mortgage REITs have rebounded significantly in recent weeks, but sector-level selectivity remains especially critical. "Essential" sectors like residential, industrial, and technology will bifurcate from troubled sectors.
Real Estate Earnings Recap
Did the rent get paid? Rent collection and dividend cuts were the primary themes of the most newsworthy and consequential REIT earnings season since the Great Financial Crisis. In this Real Estate Earnings Halftime Report, we break down rent collection statistics for every property sector and analyze the recently released NAREIT T-Tracker data to review the REIT fundamentals over the past quarter and forecast what they could mean for the rest of 2020.

(Hoya Capital Real Estate, Co-Produced with Brad Thomas)
Earnings season is now officially complete for the equity and mortgage REIT sectors with a few late-reporting stragglers reporting results this week. While the real estate sector is far from out of the woods - and several troubled REIT sectors are still very much in the thick of it - REIT earnings season was a pleasant surprise for many investors expecting the worst. Rent collection proved to be largely a... Read more