The REIT Newsletter for Advisors • Winter 2020
Citi Private Bank’s Chief Investment Strategist on REITs and the Recovery
by Steven Wieting
Chief investment strategist at Citi Private Bank
This summer, Citi Private Bank’s (CPB) global investment committee added an overweight position in REITs—the first time it has taken such a step.
Steven Wieting, chief investment strategist and chief economist at CPB, says the REIT market suffered a “very substantial correction” due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, “for patient investors, this represents a significant valuation improvement for the sector and an entry point very different than the pre-COVID period.”
Looking at the second half of 2020 and into 2021, Wieting says CPB sees value returning in certain real estate sectors and other asset classes that are deeply undervalued at the moment. However, he believes a post-COVID normalization in real estate is unlikely until the second half of 2021.
In this interview with Advisor Access, Mr. Weiting dives deeper into how REITs may respond post-pandemic.
AA: There is so much talk about the effect COVID-19 is having, and will continue to have, on the global economy. What is your research telling you—are we looking at a V, W, or U-shaped recovery?
Steven Wieting: The recovery probably does not fit any of those perfectly. I would say if you are intent on picking letters, then maybe it’s an upward sloping W. Essentially, we think that the indiscriminate, complete shutdown of the world economy that we saw in March and April is not going to be repeated going forward. We feel we’ve already experienced the largest impact that we are going to see there.
The shutdown also preceded any of the macro policy steps that were implemented by the Federal Reserve to help the economy adapt during this unprecedented time. That said, if you are an office building operator—or an airline operator, for that matter—it may not seem much different for you in the immediate sense. However, some of the broadest measures of economic activity, which in many cases went down toward zero in March and April, subsequently rebounded very sharply in May and June.
If we’re just looking at the United States, we are now seeing the things people will do to protect themselves from COVID, and that’s inhibiting the strength of any economic rebound. In other words, we really aren’t thinking about the economy being at a “post-COVID” period in our estimates until the second half of 2021. That being said, it’s not going to mean the economy will be sinking to new lows at any point going forward either.
AA: With large cities and densely populated areas being so hard hit with COVID, what is the short- and long-term view of office and retail real estate, as well as apartment and senior housing?
SW: I think we need to provide a caveat that it’s an evolving situation that will take time to understand. A lot of people have a thesis, and we’re just going to essentially look at the evidence for the time being and make assessments as we go. I am not inclined to think that we’ll see an entirely different style of economy in place post-COVID.
For example, going to an office will have its benefits in the future. It might be a different kind of office, one that incorporates working from home. I certainly think a true in-store shopping experience will be greatly valued in the future, even if e-commerce has an upward trend.
Pivoting a bit, what’s interesting about REITs generally, and housing specifically, is that the interest rate outlook has moved in favor of real estate. This whole COVID shock suggests we will see a stronger shelter market. We’ve seen home builders doing well and single family REITs too, but this is a niche that’s doing a little better than other real estate classes. Broadly speaking, multifamily REITs are down almost as much as office REITs. That’s the kind of thing that doesn’t really make a lot of sense here. There’s worry about employment, but that’s highly concentrated in a couple of industries. Again, broadly speaking, if your home is now your office then there should be basically a stronger bid for assets in real estate and shelter.
As I said, if everybody is going to move to the suburbs and buy a newly built single family home, then the single family home builders should be booming. Instead, we’re seeing a decent rally for them, but it’s not extreme. I think that this core picture is probably not strong enough for shelter-related assets.
So, we’re open-minded about how people will adapt and how much of a move they will make from urban to suburban living, and whether to buy or own. But the broader picture is not clear yet as to the future of shelter assets—as of right now they still look beaten down.
AA: With interest rates remaining low and higher levels of distress in certain sectors, what asset investments look good short and longer term?
SW: First, I think we want to be global on equity REITs. By this I mean the COVID impact is not the same everywhere, but easy monetary policy is widespread. If we look at it at this point, there is a great deal of dispersion in real estate assets that makes fundamental sense.
If you look at the strong assets in real estate right now, it’s cell towers, data centers, and logistics. These are all things that, again, we liked and even featured, in particular, a couple of years ago as private market solutions. Now they’re all up year to date.
But, when you think about the other assets that have seen declines, like hospitality, hotels, and shopping malls, these are the most beaten-down areas. In many respects you can say the fundamentals are very, very weak around COVID, but so is the valuation. The pricing is down very efficiently, along with valuation.
Now, look at residential multifamily, which looks a little bit weak comparatively speaking, given how we are seeing rent payments evolving. Certainly, there’s a new COVID risk in the U.S., and the possibility that we could end up with more potential disruption. We have questions about the degree of support from government but, by and large, we expect our shelter investments to be valuable and offer a return longer term. So, we’ll be in home builders or we’ll be in multifamily housing. When we look at industrial REITs, they’re not down as much. I also think that they are very efficiently priced.
AA: Given everything you’ve discussed, how would you summarize your general mood toward real estate?
SW: I’m happy overall with real estate as an asset class this time around, as I think about the efficiencies in the market, the aggregate drop compared to the broader markets, the drop in interest rates, and COVID being a very negative but discreet external shock. We think that there’s recovery for REITs when we get out of that, so I’m comfortable having some real estate allocation now, and an overweight allocation to REITs across the board as the economy recovers.
AA: Thank you, Mr. Wieting.