Major U.S. and Canadian pension funds are cutting back investments in office buildings, betting that prices will likely fall as the five-day office workweek becomes a thing of the past. This shift is part of a broader transition away from traditional real estate holdings in offices and shopping centers as the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the rise of e-commerce and remote work.
It’s already been a tough year for owners in the office market. An index, tracking shares of publicly traded office owners, has dropped 29 percent in the first two quarters of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported. That outpaced the 21 percent fall in the S&P 500 stock index.
REIT beats Q1 estimates, details planned asset sales amid tenants’ “flight to quality”
New York City’s office market is improving every month, but what it will look like a year from now is anyone’s guess, Vornado Realty Trust’s management said Tuesday.
Vornado’s shares rose roughly 2 percent after the company reported first-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street consensus expectations. Funds from operations per share, a key REIT earnings metric, increased more than 20 percent year over year to $0.79 on an as-adjusted basis, beating the consensus estimate by 3 cents. Net operating income ticked up 3.1 percent.
WeWork’s quarterly losses narrowed throughout 2021, but the year’s total was a sobering reminder of the flex office company’s struggle to regain its former glory.
WeWork’s stock tumbled around 3 percent Friday, then rebounded, after the company reported a $4.4 billion net loss for the year. That’s up from losses of $3.1 billion in 2020 and $3.3 billion in 2019.
The city may be entering its third year under the looming shadow of Covid, but investment sales have snapped back to pre-pandemic levels.
Manhattan recorded 100 investment transactions totaling just over $6.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a report by Avison Young, the highest dollar volume and most deals recorded in a single quarter since 2018.
The Manhattan office market’s gains in the wake of the pandemic appear to be centered on a continued flight to quality.
CBRE Investment Management recently agreed to buy a portfolio of logistics properties from Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood Investment Properties, according to the Wall Street Journal. The properties involved in the deal are valued at $4.9 billion.
Investors who bet on real estate investment trusts at the beginning of 2021 are reaching for top-shelf champagne these days as they prepare to celebrate the new year.
Blackstone Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire a 49% stake in a new Manhattan office tower in a deal that values the skyscraper at $2.85 billion, providing a shot of confidence for New York during tough times.
A venture of two real-estate firms has agreed to pay more than $1.8 billion for the historic CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles, the latest deal in the red-hot studio sector. The higher-than-expected price tag shows how demand for limited studio space is rising. New demand is being fueled in large part by Amazon.com Inc., Netflix Inc. and Apple Inc. competing to create new streaming content. Real-estate investors are getting in on the action by buying the sound stages, office space, and other real estate tied to show business.
