Global REITs delivered strong performance in the 3rd quarter, experiencing gains of over 16%. The gains were fairly uniform across Asia, US and Europe as investors begin to factor in cooling global inflation and the beginning of a rate cutting cycle in the US. Many of the headwinds for REITs are turning into tailwinds as we are beginning to see a bottoming of private real estate pricing globally and capital markets and transaction activity increasing significantly.
This will accelerate REIT M&A activity and privatizations as many listed REITs have attractively portfolios trading below their real estate value. There also remains a reversionary opportunity as REITs underperformed general equities over the last 5 years and relative cash flow multiples of REITs look attractively value versus general equities and the Technology sector.
- The U.S. real estate investment trust (REIT) market posted one of the strongest quarters in recent memory in the third quarter of 2024, up 15.6% compared with the S&P 500's 5.9% return.
- The European public real estate market rebounded strongly in September to cap a very strong third quarter as rate cutting by central banks in the region picked up speed. Europe produced a U.S. dollar gross total return of 5.4% for the month of September and an impressive, 17.1% return for the third quarter.
- The third quarter of 2024 proved to be the best for Asia year to date, as the EPRA Asia Index rose approximately 10% quarter over quarter, driving the index to its highest level year to date and reversing the approximately 8% decline in the previous quarter.
