From Bad To Worse For REITs
There were few places to hide on another punishing week for global equity markets as the coronavirus-related shutdowns continue to wreak havoc on the global financial system.
Despite unprecedented monetary policy action by central banks and promises of substantial fiscal stimulus, a forthcoming recession appears inevitable and unavoidable but hopefully short-lived.
Following a decline of nearly 10% last week, the S&P 500 plunged another 15% while the Dow Jones dipped another 4,000 points on the worst week for stocks since 2008.
For real estate, this time "should" be different, but markets think otherwise. It was a historically bad week for any and all real estate-related equities. REITs plunged nearly 25% in their all-time worst week.
Backwards-looking data, including Existing Home Sales, has shown that the U.S. economy - and particularly the U.S. housing industry - was firing on all cylinders in early 2020 before the coronavirus crisis.
