Brian Davis, president and CEO of CatchMark Timber Trust, Inc. (NYSE: CTT), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITworld: 2020 Annual Conference.
Davis noted that the consumer packaging side of the business has remained “very steady” throughout the pandemic. At the same time, fundamentals are holding up well in CatchMark’s mill markets.
Low mortgage rates, favorable demographics for household formation, and a lack of housing supply, combined with ongoing home repair and remodeling, have all supported demand for timber, Davis said.
“You have this confluence of events that’s creating this early stage super-cycle regarding the demand fundamentals associated with timberland…we’re in a really great space right now because of the underlying demand fundamentals and the durability associated with those fundamentals [that] we expect for the better part of the next three, four, five years,” Davis said.
Meanwhile, CatchMark is also focusing on simplifying its business model and deleveraging, to put the REIT in a position for growth. “We’re still working on that,” Davis said.