Public equity offerings were primarily responsible for a significant increase in capital raised by REITs in the first seven months of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016. REITs raised a total of $55.47 billion in equity and debt in 2017’s first seven months compared with $42.84 billion in the 2016 period.
Secondary equity offerings raised $28.11 billion in 2017 through July, compared with $19.53 billion in the same period in 2016. Eight initial public offerings raised an additional $2.86 billion of equity in the first seven months of 2017 compared with one IPO that raised $1.21 billion in the same period of 2016. REITs’ unsecured debt offerings raised $24.5 billion in the first seven months of 2017 compared with $22.11 billion in the first seven months of the prior year.