Brad Case, a vice president with the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts
From the April issue: Whle real estate investment trusts clearly have a lot of challenges right now, they have one key thing going for them that a lot of other investors don’t: access to capital. In this month’s Q&A, experts who track REITs told The Real Deal that the tremendous volatility the sector was experiencing a year ago is largely gone now. They said the biggest challenge REITs face today is finding worthwhile investments and paying down their debt. Some REITs, including Sam Zell’s Equity Residential, SL Green and Hersha Hospitality (see “Hersha’s New York play”) have already started picking up more property in New York. Others, like Simon Property Group and Westfield Group, are going head-to-head to take over bankrupt megamall operator and South Street Seaport owner General Growth Properties. Sources said they expect more REITs to start going after entire portfolios of properties (though not on the General Growth Properties scale) in the coming months. For more on which REIT sectors are faring best and worst and which REITs are most under- and overvalued, click here to turn to our panel of experts.
