Mall REITs: Shop Till You Drop
- From bad to worse. Entering 2020 on already unstable footing following a tsunami of store closings over the past half-decade, mall REITs have been punished by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
- Mall REITs have plunged nearly 50% so far in 2020. Absent a miracle, mall REITs are likely to underperform the REIT average for the fifth straight year in 2020.
- Rent collection averaged less than 50% in the second quarter. Same-store NOI dipped roughly 30% in Q2, while FFO per share has plunged a mind-numbing 45% through the first half of 2020.
- Shop till you drop? Simon Property is on a shopping spree, as the mall REIT continues to make investments into distressed retail brands that will keep many storefronts open, at least for now.
- The forthcoming post-pandemic "suburban revival" offers a glimmer of hope for deep value speculative investors, as does Amazon's rumored interest in converting vacated department store space into distribution centers.
