Since becoming a state in 1959, Hawaii has been portrayed as a sunny beach vacation spot with palm trees and a rich cultural history. As with most things, reality is much more complicated. While it does boast some of the most beautiful beaches in the world (with top notch surfing), the rich cultural ‘history’ is […]

MLPs or REITs?  These two have been linked ever since Apache (NYSE: APA) established the first MLP in 1981 due to their above average yields and tax-advantaged status. Other than MLPs having a K-1 for tax reporting versus public REITs having 1099’s like traditional C-corps, both structures provide tax benefits and serve as yield alternatives. […]

What a year it was for real estate securities!  We are proud that we had the highest forecast for the year relative to prominent sell side research firms.  However, even our +12-17% projection came up short relative to the actual 2019 MSCI US REIT Index (Bloomberg: RMSG) total return of 25.8%.  As a result of […]

After attending November’s NAREIT Conference in Los Angeles, we returned with a wealth of new ideas, information, and perspectives gleaned from management teams and our fellow investors. It also reminded us how much the industry and its investor base have evolved over the past several decades. Specifically, investors that are not dedicated to any particular […]

The acronym R.E.I.T. stands for something specific: Real Estate Investment Trust. However, REITs come in many different forms. While the Chilton REIT Strategy is comprised of only publicly traded equity REITs, some brokers have recommended ‘non-traded REITs’ to their clients as a steady source of income and a safe store of principal. For the purposes […]

Since we began publishing the Chilton REIT Outlook, we have consistently been proponents of a US-focused, actively managed strategy. However, international REIT markets across both developed and emerging countries have made significant advancements in the ‘investability’ of their own publicly traded real estate securities as of late. We now believe such markets have matured and […]

On August 29, the US 10 year US Treasury yield was 1.5%, approximately one basis point (or bp) below the US 2 year Treasury yield. This ‘inverted’ yield curve has predicated each recession by an average of 19 months for the past 50 years. Figure 1 shows the past 20 years of the spread between […]

Another month, another retail bankruptcy, another ‘win’ for e-commerce, and a ‘loss’ for brick-and-mortar. Houston-based Charming Charlie’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 11, which will result in 261 store closings across the country. It is the second bankruptcy in as many years for Charming Charlie’s, which the media roundly blames on the impact […]

Equity REITs have become a ‘mirror’ of the US economy, and it’s increasingly difficult to make generalizations about all REITs since fundamental drivers vary among the 15 REIT sectors. But, as yield-oriented companies, they do benefit when interest rates move downward as we have seen recently. As of June 30, 2019, Equity REITs are up […]

What is a REIT? A REIT is a corporation that either owns interests in commercial real estate (Equity REITs) or acts as a lender (Mortgage REITs). All REITs are exempt from Federal income taxes provided they adhere to a number of regulations; most notably, they must payout at least 90% of net income as dividends. […]