REITs Are Now Cheap
- Nearly 200 REITs have reported earnings results over the past five weeks, providing critical information on the state of the real estate industry amid the extreme volatility in early 2022.
- Results were generally better-than-expected with roughly 90% of equity REITs beating consensus FFO estimates while more than 75% of the REITs that provide forward guidance beating their full-year outlook.
- Self-storage and residential REITs were among the notable upside standouts during earnings season as essentially all segments of the rental markets continue to report double-digit rent growth.
- Dividend hikes were among the prevailing themes of earnings season with 40 REITs already raising their payouts so far in 2022, outpacing the record-setting pace seen last year.
- Despite the strong slate of earnings reports across most property sectors, performance trends continue to be dominated by macroeconomic factors, notably the "rates up, REITs down" paradigm that has pulled REIT valuations back towards "cheap" levels.
