Share buyback activity by U.S. equity real estate investment trusts has started to gain momentum in the third quarter of 2023.
The report said about $1.02B worth of common stock bought back by the REITs in the quarter, up 83.6% over the prior quarter and increased 17.5% year over year, according to a report by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The data added by dollar value, self-storage REIT National Storage Affiliates bought ~6.4M shares for $213.2M in the quarter, which was the most among the REITs.
Hotel REITs bought back ~$229.5M worth of common stock in Q3, which is the most of any property sector, with Host Hotels, Park Hotels & Resorts leading the pack, as they repurchased almost $74.9M worth of common stock.
Self-storage REITs came second, as they repurchased $213.3M worth of common stock.
The Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLRE) has gained 2.45% on a year to date basis.
REITs have had a hard time battling a higher interest rate environment, but since Nov. 1 they have managed to recover, as the Federal Reserve chose to keep the rates unchanged.
The analysis said three REITS in the quarter had announced either new share repurchase programs or expansions to existing ones.
The REITs which announced new or expansions on share buybacks are, regional mall REIT CBL & Associates Properties (CBL), single tenant retail REIT Alpine Income Property Trust (PINE) and multifamily REIT BRT Apartments Corp (BRT).