26
Good Time for REITs to be Both Buyers, Sellers of Assets
Posted under REAL ESTATE by admin
http://www.reit.com Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE: AKR) President and Chief Executive Officer Ken Bernstein said his company’s retail tenants are seeing their sales hold up fairly well amidst some tough economic times. Speaking with REIT.com during The Real Estate Roundtable’s fall meeting, Bernstein said there has been a measure of stability among its tenants, notwithstanding volatility in the capital markets.
“What we will have to see is how does this play out over the next several months. And if the economy continues to remain volatile, at what point does that start to truly impact fundamentals,” Bernstein said.
For the most part, Bernstein said the anchor tenants in the company’s shopping centers have been healthier than heading into the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009,” he said. “They have stronger balance sheets and their business has been somewhat steadier.”
Acadia is active as both a buyer and seller in the current market. “This is a good time to shed assets and be a seller of assets that are not consistent with your long-term strategy,” Bernstein said. “But because rates are so low, it is a good time to be a buyer of assets that you believe in long term.”
Looking at 2012, Bernstein said he is very optimistic regarding how the company is positioned for what might lie ahead. He said the company has been selling non-core assets and purchasing others so that 40 percent of the portfolio is urban or street retail, a third is supermarket-anchored centers and the balance is discounter-anchored.
“I like that balance, and I like where that positions us going forward,” he said. “We also have a very healthy balance sheet with plenty of dry capital to be acquirers. And we think some of the volatility in the system right now is going to create some interesting buying opportunities.”
Bernstein said what concerns him as he looks toward 2012 and beyond is that within the publicly traded real estate space there is a risk of “the baby getting thrown out with the bath water.”
“In other words, real estate should be in this kind of low interest rate environment a very attractive investment and, so far, real estate has been holding up OK,” he said. “There is a risk that REITs along with all other financial instruments will be sold off just out of fear.”
By Matt Bechard
Duration : 0:3:33
Add A Comment