Washington REIT to
Offer 2.3 Million Shares
Washington Real Estate Investment Trust plans to offer 2.3
million shares of common stock. The company, which owns 90
Washington-area shopping centers, will use proceeds from the
sale to pay down debt. The company would generate $81
million from the sale based on current share prices. To read
the story,
click here.
5/20/08
Texas Pension Fund to Invest With Parkway Properties
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas plans to invest
$262.5 million in a fund managed by Parkway Properties. The
investment is earmarked for Parkway Properties Office Fund
II LP. To read the story in the Dallas Business Journal,
click here.
5/7/08
Duke, CBRE Partner for $800 Million JV
Duke Realty Corp. and CB Richard Ellis Realty Trust formed
an $800 million joint venture to invest in new industrial
projects over a three-year period. The first investments
include 5.2 million square feet of space and total $250
million. To read the story in Commercial Property News,
click here.
5/7/08
NAREIT provides comments on FASB proposal
NAREIT has provided a comment letter on the proposed FASB
Staff Position (FSP) to amend FASB Statement No. 132,
Employers' Disclosures About Pensions and Other
Postretirement Benefits. The letter recommended clarifying
the FSP to provide employers with the flexibility to
classify their investments in REITs and publicly traded real
estate equities in the real estate category, the equity
securities category or both, depending on whether employers'
hold the securities in their real estate allocations, their
equity securities allocations, or both. To read the letter,
click here.
5/7/08
NAREIT Wins Corporate Excellence Award
The International Real Estate Society (IRES) presented
NAREIT with its 2008 IRES Corporate Excellence Award earlier
this month at the American Real Estate Society Annual
Meeting in Captiva Island, Fla. The IRES Corporate
Excellence Award is awarded to organizations that
demonstrate outstanding leadership in fostering the growth
and evolution of the international real estate industry. To
read more,
click here.
4/24/08
Potlach Spin-Off May Create Pure-Play REIT
Potlatch Corp. is considering a tax-free spin-off of its
pulp-based businesses. The company said the spin-off would
create two stand-alone companies, with the timber assets
having revenues of about $1.2 billion last year. To read
more,
click here.
4/18/08
REALpac Issues RFPs for Research
The Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac) is
committed to the development of real estate research and has
issued its Spring 2008 request for proposals to undertake
insightful research that explores issues of importance to
the investment real property industry in Canada. To view the
RFP for research funding,
click here.
4/14/08
Blackstone Closes $11B Real Estate Fund
The Blackstone Group LP has closed Blackstone Real Estate
Partners VI with capital commitments totaling $10.9 billion.
According to a company statement, this fund was the largest
real estate opportunity fund ever raised. The firm has
raised a total of nine real estate funds since inception,
both funds for global investing and funds with a specific
focus on Western Europe, with total capital commitments of
$25.7 billion. To read the article from GlobeSt.com,
click here.
4/2/08
Liberty Property, CommerzLeasing Close on $324 Million in
Permanent Financing for Philadelphia Tower
A joint venture between Liberty Property Trust and
CommerzLeasing und Immobilien AG closed on $324 million in
permanent financing for the Comcast Center tower that's
nearing completion in Philadelphia, Liberty said Monday. To
read the story,
click here.
4/1/08
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Housing Slump
Helps Apartment REIT
The housing crisis is helping Mid-America Apartment
Communities, a Memphis, Tennessee-based REIT that focuses on
apartment communities. Homeowners who could not afford to
keep their homes or lost them to foreclosure have been
renting apartments. To read the story,
click here.
5/21/08,
REITs are Smart Play in Current Economy
The portfolio manager of the Ivy Real Estate Securities Fund
believes REITs are a strong play in the current market. "They're
not writing off billions of dollars of assets; they're
growing their incomes," he said. To read the story in
Investment News,
click here.
5/20/08
Analyst Upgrades Apartment REITs
A Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analyst upgraded the apartment
REIT sector to "Neutral" from "Underweight" based on its
strong first quarter and improving fundamentals. To read the
Associated Press story,
click here.
5/20/08
Movie Theater REIT on Blockbuster Run
Entertainment Properties Trust, the lone REIT that invests
almost solely in movie theaters, has posted year-to-date
returns of 20%. Equity REITs have posted gains of 7% during
the same time period. Chief Executive David Brain predicts
at least 10% growth in funds from operations this year. To
read the story in Investment News,
click here.
5/15/08
REITs Are Second Best Performing Fund Group
The average mutual fund focusing on real estate is up 5.6%
this year after losing more than 14% in last year's credit
crunch. The gains make it the second-best performing U.S.
stock fund group in the period ended May 12, according to
Morningstar. To read the Wall Street Journal story,
click here.
5/15/08
Housing Turmoil Benefits Apartment REITs
With mortgage holders continuing to default, the rental
market has remained strong. "People are working, and they
need places to live; if they can't buy, they'll rent," said
Michael Cuggino, president and portfolio manager of the
Permanent Portfolio Fund. To read the story in Investment
News,
click here.
5/8/08
REITs Deliver Strong First Quarter Results
Half of the 64 REITs that had reported first-quarter results
as of May 2 had exceeded analysts expectations. "We're not
getting these monstrous misses that some observers might
have expected going into earnings season," said Richard
Anderson, director of REIT research for BMO Capital Markets.
To read the Wall Street Journal story,
click here.
5/7/08
Bargains to be Found in REITs
A Zacks Investment Research analyst thinks investors can
find bargains in REITs and is expecting first quarter FFO
growth between 3% and 5% for the REITs covered by the firm.
To read the story,
click here.
5/1/08
AvalonBay Prospers With Development Strategy
Apartment REIT AvalonBay has prospered through the collapse
of the U.S. single-family housing market with a strategy
based on developing apartment communities in major cities
with high economic and regulatory barriers to entry for
apartment and condo developers. The company's properties are
97% occupied and their monthly rent is nearly triple the
national average. To read the story in Forbes,
click here.
5/1/08
REIT Yields Attract Investors
High dividend yields on REITs have made them a haven for
investors seeking refuge from the credit crisis, a faltering
economy and a barrage of corporate-earnings shortfalls.
REITs have posted a total return of about 6.5% this year,
with the dividend yield of 5.3% accounting for most of the
gain. By comparison, the S&P 500 is down 6.4% for the year.
To read the story in Investment News,
click here.
4/30/08
REIT Dividend Yields Lures Investors
Jittery investors, shaken by the credit crisis, faltering
economy and barrage of corporate-earnings shortfalls, appear
to be turning to REITs for refuge, thanks to their enticing
dividend yields. To read the Investment News article,
click here.
4/29/08
Real Estate Investors Look Outside U.S.
Many U.S. investors, opportunity funds and real estate
investment trusts have been scouting for real estate
bargains in high-growth areas of the world, where the local
economies are growing and demand for real estate is
escalating. To read the Investment News article,
click here.
4/29/08
REITs Rebound, Offer Long-term Opportunity
REITs have outperformed the overall U.S. stock market so far
in 2008, Richard Shaw writes in a Seeking Alpha analysis.
Shaw is a fee-based investment adviser in Connecticut that
advised clients to avoid REITs in January 2007 and again in
August of last year. "We did not say then, but clearly if an
investor saw a steady shift from lower to higher yield by
REITs, a gradual return to the class could have been
considered. In fact, those who took that approach in 2008
have done well," Shaw said. To read the story in Seeking
Alpha,
click here.
4/24/08
Internet Video Growth Spurs Data Center Demand
The growing popularity of Internet video and expanding
corporate IT requirements are spurring demand for data
center space and driving up occupancy rates in these
facilities, creating growth opportunities for data center
REITs. To read the story in CoStar News,
click here.
4/24/08
REITs Outperform S&P Over Past Decade
Investors who looked to real estate investment trusts for
dividends have also been getting strong capital growth. The
National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts says
its composite equity REIT index has seen compounding returns
of 10.22% over the past 10 years. The S&P 500 posted average
gains of 4.07% over the same time period. To read the story
in ETFguide,
click here.
4/22/08
Health Care REITs a Healthy Play
With returns north of 9% so far this year and their dividend
yield outpacing 10-year Treasuries, health care REITs might
be one of the safest investments out there for investors
looking to avoid current market volatility. To read the
story in Investment News,
click here.
4/22/08
REITs Offer Investors Inflation Protection
REITs are generally a good hedge against inflation, John
Waggoner writes in a Courier-Post financial column. They may
be vulnerable if the economy slows, but they offer solid
yields of about 5%. To read his article,
click here.
4/18/08
Swensen's Investment Advice Includes REITs
The turmoil in the stock market has a lot of people nervous
about their retirement savings. If only they had David
Swensen investing their money. Swensen manages Yale
University's endowment. Last year, he made a 28 percent
return, adding a whopping $5 billion to Yale's endowment,
which is now valued at $22 billion. And he continues to
advocate a 20% allocation to REITs. To learn more from
Swensen,
click here.
4/4/08
REITs Ripe for the Picking
One of real estates most highly regarded portfolio managers,
Marty Cohen, sees growth potential and opportunity in the
commercial real estate market. "This is probably one of the
most exciting times," Mr. Cohen, co-chairman and co-chief
executive of Cohen & Steers Inc., said. He added that, due
to the credit market crisis, REITs are trading at the
biggest discount ever to the value of their underlying
assets and that perception - not fundamentals - have
depressed REIT share prices. To read the story in Investment
News,
click here.
4/3/08
Stein: REITs a Bargain
Ben Stein, economist and Wall Street pundit, says U.S. and
Canadian real estate equities are undervalued. Stein told a
CIBC World Markets real estate equities conference that he
had never seen a bigger bargain than REITs. "I'm buying all
[the REIT units] I can get my little paws on. These are
God's gift to retirees," Stein said. To read the story,
click here.
4/3/08
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