Nareit's Reit Report Podcast

Matt Werner, managing director & senior portfolio manager at Chilton Capital Management, joined the latest episode of the Nareit REIT Report podcast to discuss why investing in an active REIT strategy today is attractive for a number of reasons.Werner said tariff-induced volatility is a “perfect environment” for an active REIT strategy “because we're able to take advantage of things that we think are selling off more than they should or trimming things that maybe are outperforming our expectations.”He added that across almost all property types, REITs are seeing “growing dividends at the same time as being on the cusp of accelerating earnings.” Valuations also look “pretty fair, especially relative to equities. They look extremely undervalued relative to the historical averages.”

Tim Bodner, real estate deals leader at PwC, joined the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report to discuss what today's uncertain market environment means for investment patterns and transaction activity.Bodner described transaction activity across a range of real estate sectors, including office, hospitality, senior housing, data centers, and energy infrastructure, as “fairly robust.” He stressed that the real estate sector is used to operating in periods of uncertainty and cyclical change, while noting that REITs are focusing on what they can control and are “in a good place at this stage, given everything that’s going on.”He also pointed out that there's a lot of activity around figuring out what's the right scale to have to operate in this new environment, “which likely will lead to more public to public and public to private transaction activity in the REIT space.”

Michael Seton, president and CEO of Sila Realty Trust, Inc . (NYSE: SILA), joined the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast to reflect upon the one-year anniversary of the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange.Seton said he is “extremely optimistic” about Sila’s future, noting that the REIT is scaled to grow its portfolio, which currently exceeds $2 billion in assets. He said “very high quality” opportunities exist throughout the marketplace.“If a seller is trying to bring a product to market today to raise capital or sell a property, it's got to be high quality because capital, generally speaking in the market, is constrained,” he said. While focused nationally, Sila has a particular emphasis on Sun Belt states.During the interview, Seton discussed Sila’s decision to do a direct listing on the NYSE and why it was confident in that choice, as well as what its Wall Street sponsorship looks like today. He also highlighted the tailwinds supporting the health care sector and described wha

In this episode of the REIT Report special series, “Building Resilience,” Joanna Frank, Founder, CEO, and President of Center for Active Design, shares how focusing on health and wellness in the built environment builds resilience by focusing on the human impact of extreme weather events.In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Joanna Frank, Founder, CEO, and President of Center for Active Design (CfAD), operator of Fitwel and Active Design Advisors, Inc (Adai) to discuss how public health strategies are helping to transform the built environment and support communities to be more resilient.“How do we use our built environment to create an environment that is resilient and can foster that quality of life and safety for the residents? This was first, I think, brought to the public stage at COP 28, where there was an entire day about health because the true cost of

Patrick Wilson, a portfolio manager for CenterSquare Investment Management’s real estate securities group, was a guest on the latest episode of the REIT Report podcast. He noted that REITs are currently in a “pretty enviable position,” which has translated into greater interest in increasing REIT allocations from CenterSquare’s existing investor base, as well as from prospective clients.“In a typical garden variety recession, which rhymes with higher unemployment, lower consumption spending, REITs tend to fare well given the long duration contractual leases that they have in place, the higher dividend income which is creating current income, and their values being tied to underlying physical asset bases,” Wilson said.Elsewhere in the interview, Wilson reviewed public versus private real estate valuations, potential opportunities in market dislocation, global trends in REIT markets, the diversity benefits REITs offer, and more.

In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Daniel Kaniewski, Managing Director, Public Sector at Marsh McLennan, joins Nareit’s Jessica Long, Senior Vice President of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability, to discuss how his experience as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) first deputy administrator for resilience has led to his current focus advancing resilience investment in the private sector.“During Hurricane Katrina, I was at the White House and saw the mass devastation, and I said, shouldn't we be doing something ahead of time to reduce these disaster losses Americans will almost inevitably face. What I found was there was a small but growing interest in an area called disaster resilience.”Currently, Kaniewski chairs the finance, insurance, and real estate committee at the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), a congressiona

Matt Birenbaum, chief investment officer at AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB), joined the REIT Report podcast to discuss the multifamily REIT’s development strategy, including the repurposing of outdated assets, as well as demand drivers in the build-to-rent segment, mixed-use development opportunities, and more.Birenbaum touched on some of the major themes in the multifamily sector today, including the increase in migration to suburban locations and the desire for larger format housing on the part of millennials. That has led to increased demand for build-to-rent homes, an area that AvalonBay is increasing its focus on.Birenbaum also noted that about a third of the REIT’s communities have a retail component. “When you get it right, the whole truly can be more than the sum of the parts. And for us, this is an area where I think we do have a competitive advantage being a REIT because we are building and owning these assets for the long term.”

In this special episode of the REIT Report, part of an ongoing series, “Building Resilience,” covering issues facing the REIT industry as it remains focused on investing for the long term, Jeremy Porter, head of climate implications research at  First Street Foundation , joins Nareit’s Jessica Long, senior vice president of environmental stewardship and sustainability, to discuss how high-resolution climate models are helping people to understand property-specific impacts from different weather events and to develop and implement adaptation plans.  “One of the ways in which we've thought about climate risk is a one-in-a-100-year event, which implies that if I just had a one-in-a-100-year flood, I don't have to worry about another one, I'm not going to live to be 100 years old. That's not actually how they work,” Porter explains. “Understanding that every year there's an independent opportunity for that probability of an event to occur, so if you look out over the 30 years of a standar

Darrell Crate, co-founder and CEO of Easterly Government Properties, Inc . (NYSE: DEA), joined Nareit’s REIT Report podcast to share his insight into how the REIT is addressing the commercial real estate needs of mission-critical U.S. government agencies.Crate noted that Easterly has been focused on efficiency since before the Trump administration created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “DOGE is a tailwind. We could not be more excited that the government's going to have the opportunity, through better processes, to take some of our ideas and move them forward,” he said.

David Schanuel, president and COO of SageWater, joined a sponsored episode of the REIT Report podcast to discuss the importance in the multifamily sector of including plumbing and mechanical infrastructure in capital improvement planning.SageWater helps multifamily owners protect their investment and improve residents’ quality of life through turnkey plumbing and mechanical infrastructure solutions. With forensic diagnosis, engineering design, and construction services, they upgrade and install critical systems while renters remain in their homes.Schanuel noted that SageWater primarily focuses on the “substantial amount” of aged infrastructure in the multifamily sector that was delivered in the 1950s-1970s, and sometimes the early 1980s. “Their plumbing and mechanical systems have aged out or phased out of their useful life and really need to be addressed to ensure that the housing stock remains a top-quality asset for the ownership groups that maintain and rent out those facilities.”

David Giulieri and Michael Svec, senior portfolio management directors and certified financial planners with the Chesapeake Capitol Group at Morgan Stanley, were guests on Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. In recognition of April as Financial Literacy Month, Giulieri and Svec touched on a range of topics relevant to novice and seasoned investors alike.Both Giulieri and Svec emphasized the importance of staying calm and focused in today’s volatile market environment. “If you can stay disciplined during times like this, the odds of success skyrocket,” Giulieri said. Svec advised listeners to “have a plan, stick to it, and do your best to keep the emotion out of it.”During the interview, Giulieri and Svec also addressed:key questions to ask a potential financial advisorhow to balance the need to have funds available for key financial milestones, like buying a home or paying for college, with ensuring that you're also saving for retirementadvice for anyone already on the investment path, with a 401K or other inv

Rob Main, managing partner at the shareholder advisory firm Jasper Street, joined the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. He discussed sustainability reporting and practical steps REITs can take to navigate the proxy season.Main described the corporate mood heading into proxy season as “anxious.” For many companies, however, as long as they've been engaging with their investors, have good disclosure, and aren't viewed as outliers by institutional investors, “they're probably going to have a good proxy season,” he said.Investors, meanwhile, are “cautious,” he said, and are likely to be more “tight-lipped” given recent SEC guidance. At the same time, their core belief about the importance of strong governance practices remains intact.

Danny Ismail, co-head of strategic research at Green Street, joined Nareit’s REIT Report podcast to discuss how real estate and REITs are positioned in the current highly volatile market environment created by last week's White House announcement on tariffs.Ismail said there's good reason to fear a slowdown in economic growth resulting from an increase in tariffs, not just from potentially higher import costs, but also a pullback in business investment as well as consumer spending.As for the market response, “we'll see how the next few weeks shake out, but thus far REITs and real estate appear to be a relative safe haven,” Ismail said. One reason for that is the starting valuation of REITs prior to the tariff announcement, where REITs looked attractive relative to the S&P 500. “REITs came into this environment on the cheaper side, while private real estate came in looking fairly valued,” Ismail noted.

Sherry Rexroad, executive vice president and CFO at Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM), was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast.Rexroad discussed ways to work within the current environment of shifting interest rates, recession worries, and geopolitical tensions in order to remain consistent on strategy. “It’s really important to differentiate between short-term volatility and secular change. Short-term volatility needs to be managed and monitored. It can be a distraction if you let it be,” she said.She noted that between 2019 and 2022, Piedmont shifted $1.4 billion of assets, or roughly a third of the portfolio, out of Chicago, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and into Atlanta and Dallas.

Vikram Malhotra, managing director, real estate equities and research at Mizuho, joined the latest episode of the Nareit REIT Report podcast to share some of the findings from recent Mizuho research into the economic and investment implications likely to result from an aging population.Malhotra noted that the 75-plus cohort in the United States is set to grow at about 4% per annum over the next five to 10 years. By 2030, the group will represent 10% of the total population, up from 7.5% today. At the same time, their spending is expected to grow over 80%, or $700 billion, through 2030.

Nareit Hawaii Executive Director Gladys Quinto Marrone was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. Marrone discussed the mission of Nareit Hawaii, including its community outreach work.As to how the Nareit Hawaii Community Giving Initiative, established by the Nareit Foundation, goes about selecting the programs it chooses to support, Marrone noted, “We try to ensure that grantees come from all around the state and serve as many people as possible.”Typically, four to five Nareit Foundation grants have been awarded annually, totaling about $350,000 to $400,000. In addition, five to six grants a year totaling $150,000 to $200,000, from Nareit Hawaii are awarded to nonprofits supporting a variety of charitable causes.https://nareithawaii.com/

Ji Zhang, portfolio manager for global real estate at Cohen & Steers, was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. Zhang spoke about her firm’s recent entry into the active exchange traded fund space, including the Cohen & Steers Real Estate Active ETF.Zhang explained that the ETF is designed specifically to invest in “high conviction ideas” in U.S. REITs, while opportunistically investing in international and other real estate-related securities. “The ultimate goal is to provide total return and portfolio diversification,” she said.The backdrop for REIT fundamentals is “quite healthy,” supported by steady demand and meaningfully below-trend supply, Zhang said

Bill Ferguson, co-chairman and CEO of Ferguson Partners, and Mike Cordingley, who leads Ferguson’s North American Management Consulting and Leadership Consulting Business Units, were guests on Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. Ferguson and Cordingley discussed their latest research into REIT CEO succession trends and shared best practices for transition planning.“Succession is, if not the highest priority for the board, one of the highest priorities,” Ferguson said. He noted that there were seven CEO succession events per year from 2013 to 2022. In 2023, there were nine and in 2024 that increased to 12.Cordingley noted that the acceleration is set to continue for a number of reasons, including increasing activist involvement and an aging leadership cohort. “The average age per REIT CEO is 60 and typical retirement is occurring around 64,” he said.

Maaike van Bragt, senior research associate, and Chris Flynn, head of product development at CEM Benchmarking, were guests on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. Van Bragt and Flynn discussed some of the findings from the 2024 CEM Benchmarking study into investment performance across various asset classes.In research sponsored by Nareit, CEM Benchmarking took a comprehensive look at investment allocations and realized investment performance across 12 asset classes over a 25-year period (1998–2022). While private equity was the strongest performer over that period, with an average net return of about 12%, REITs and U.S. small cap stocks came in second place with average returns of about 9.7%. Returns for private real estate were about 7.7% during the 25-year period.Van Bragt said CEM’s research “really shows that on a net return basis, REITs have done really well in the past 25 years. And so if you have real estate in your asset allocation, I think you should seriously consider using REITs or a

Melinda McLaughlin, global head of research at Prologis, Inc . (NYSE: PLD), was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. She discussed broad trends impacting logistics today, including global trade, delivery speeds, new construction, e-commerce, rising barriers to supply, standout global markets, and more.McLaughlin said 2025 looks set to be a “solid year” for both consumption and global trade, based on strong labor markets. E-commerce, meanwhile, is “absolutely gaining market share in all of our markets around the world,” she noted.At the same time, there's been a lack of construction for the largest logistics buildings since 2022, McLaughlin pointed out. “Today, and looking at 2025 as a whole, we see deliveries down 35% year over year for all types of logistics real estate, but that number is a 65% decline for bulk buildings, so really setting the stage for demand and supply to rebalance and maybe even have some scarcity in certain markets.”