Michael Landy, president and CEO of Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp. (NYSE: MNR), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITweek: 2018 Investor Conference in New York.
Landy discussed the expansion of the Panama Canal, calling it a “game changer” for the global supply chain. He noted that in anticipation of the expansion, some of the largest companies have shifted operations from the West Coast to the East Coast.
Shipping container growth on the East Coast is now outpacing growth on the West Coast by about three times, according to Landy.
Monmouth has consciously tilted its portfolio to east of the Mississippi River, Landy said. Ports where the company is heavily invested, including Miami; Tampa, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; New Orleans; and Houston are all doing well, he noted.
“We’re really benefitting, and it’s happening faster than some people thought it would,” Landy said.
Meanwhile, Landy noted that the weighted average building age for Monmouth’s portfolio is only nine years. “It’s a very state of the art portfolio. It’s a key factor in building a high-quality portfolio going forward.”
Landy said the tailwinds that have benefitted the industrial sector continue to prevail. The sector is in its ninth consecutive year of positive net absorption, while Monmouth is in its third consecutive year of above 99 percent occupancy.
“Demand is so insatiable that the big pools of capital cannot aggregate enough industrial product,” Landy said