“REITs are a derivative of credit and the economy so as long as one of those is doing well, REITs will do well,” said Alex Goldfarb, the senior REIT analyst at Sandler O’Neill Partners, told Reuters. “If there’s a view that rents will improve, as long as the move in interest rates is not too significant REITs will still perform.”
Equities have strengthened since Trump’s victory on bets that the incomign administration will lower taxes, cut regulations and spend billions on fiscal stimulus to support the economy. Consequently, more traders are looking at REITs as a play on an improving economy, even if the pro-economic policies are inflationary in nature, which would incite further rate hikes.
“To say REITs are going to do poorly in a rising rate environment is true simplistically, but if the economy is improving that’s going to be cash flow generating for REITs in the right place,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, told Reuters.
For more information on real estate investment trusts, visit our REITs category.