BPYUP - REIT Earnings Halftime Report: Dividend Cuts No More

• Did the rent get paid? We're at the halfway-point of another newsworthy REIT earnings season. Results thus far have been better-than-expected as dividend cuts have given way to dividend boosts.
• After 63 equity REITs and 32 mortgage REITs cut dividends in Q2, just three REITs have announced a reduction since then while 38 REITs have raised dividends above pre-pandemic rates.
• Real estate is anything but monolithic. Amid the pandemic, the "essential" property sectors - housing, technology, and e-commerce/industrial - have actually become stronger, perhaps at the expense of non-essential property sectors.
• Rent collection - and interest collection for mREITs - has recovered to "normal" levels across all major property sectors outside of retail. Retail collection rates have improved to 90% or above, but a dreaded "second wave" of economic lockdowns would be devastating.
• The "urban exodus" and "suburban revival" has been a major theme of Q3 earnings. A wave of businesses and individuals have fled the coastal "shutdown cities" into lower-cost and more business-friendly Sunbelt metros and suburban markets.

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