Rent collection data from Nareit’s member REITs during the past six months highlight the resiliency of the industry across most property sectors.
Speaking Sept. 28 on the REIT Report, Nicole Funari, Nareit VP for research, noted that “we learned that there was a shock to the system but that REITs were resilient enough to go through this period of readjustment and come out on the other side at a new normal, in a fairly strong position.”
The biggest story to emerge from the past six months has been the bounce-back in certain retail sectors. Funari noted that rent collection for free standing retail started out at 73% and by September was almost at 95% of typical rent collected. Shopping centers started the pandemic at slightly over 50% and were at 82% of typical rent collection by September, she noted.
Nareit decided to end its regularly scheduled rent collection survey this month, Funari explained, because most property sectors had stabilized by July and the remaining sectors seemed to be heading in that direction through September.
Furthermore, rent collection is only one piece of REIT operations, Funari said. “It says a lot about tenant health, which was useful information, especially early in the pandemic, but as we’ve stabilized over time, we’re just not learning new information about the REITs themselves.”