Todd Voigt, senior portfolio manager at Ranger Global Real Estate Advisors, was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast.
Voigt discusses the key issues impacting real estate investing today and how REITs may find opportunities amid market volatility.
“The great opportunity that US REITs have, and particularly those early winners that we are seeing now raising capital, is that they have the balance sheet and access to equity to become buyers. And a lot of times there will be less buyers at that table and that’s where you get the best returns a lot of times,” Voigt said.
Voigt also noted that US REIT balance sheets are in “amazing shape”, with average net debt between five and six times EBITDA. “This includes some of the more heavily leveraged REITs and so the quality REITs have even better leverage positions…. From that perspective, US REITs are very well positioned for the commercial real estate loan crisis,” he said.
Voigt also discussed M&A activity, and said this is likely to continue in the REIT sector, especially given that about 80% of REITs still trade at a discount to NAV.
Other topics include how real estate fundamentals in the US compare to global markets. Voigt said the U.S. economy is stronger than other global economies, which is positive for real estate fundamentals. He said differences in global macroeconomic cycles create opportunities for Ranger Global, which is “very optimistic about US real estate as well as the global real estate sector today.”
